The Impact of Privatization of Solid Waste Collection and Transportation in Delhi: The Impact on the informal Recycling Sector

he Impact of Privatization of Solid Wastegenerated in Delhi. This waste is segregated into
Collection and Transportation in Delhi: The Impactseveral categories along the chain, before it is
on the informal Recycling Sectoraccepted by any reprocessor. The schedule set
Backgroundfor the private operator, on the other hand,
Since the late 1990s, two important public interestdemands 20% segregation only in the 8th year of
litigations have been filed in the Supreme Court,operation. Prior to that, and even during this
the highest court in India. Both demand greaterperiod, the operator is paid by the weight that is
accountability from the municipality for cleanerdelivered at the landfill. This creates a disincentive
cities. The first, B.L. Vadhera Vs the Union ofto segregated. Seen in the light of Article 5.15,
India, resulted in several court orders, evengiving the operator rights over the recyclables,
personal appearances of senior officials in thethe contract ‘creates competing interests
Court and rules being created for Hospital Waste.between the private operator and the
The second case, Almitra Patel Vs. The Union ofwastepicker.’
India, has resulted in rules being made for MunicipalTable 1 : Segregation Requirements from Private
Solid Waste. The case was also focused onOperators
technology as a primary solution for a cleanerYear of operation Months from COD Segregation
country.benchmark Applicable penaltyfor corresponding
Apart from their individual outcomes, both thesemonth for corresponding month
cases resulted in great pressure on the municipal(in % terms) (in % terms)
authorities to perform their tasks in a moreYear 1                    
efficient manner. The media keenly reported the1-12                            
proceedings and frequently mocked municipal      
inability to meet the courts’ and public’s           -
exacting standards.Year 2                    
Continuous court pressure and frustrated13-24                          
attempts to clean the city was an important      
reason for the municipalities in Delhi to seek         15%
privatization as an opportunity to respond to theYear 3                    
courts. Subhash Chopra, a vocal member of the26-36                            
Delhi Legislative Assembly has stated,    
“privatization of garbage collection and disposal       15%
will be for the city. The MCD has been a totalYear 4                    
failure on this count.”37-48                               
Other Roads to Privatization 
Another reason was the change in Delhi’s12                            
own position as the capital of an increasingly        15%
important player in the global economy. TheYear 5                    
Masterplan 2021 includes many new features that49-60                               
are geared towards international conferences, 
entertainment etc. The problem of waste handling15                            
and a filthy city remained an environmental and        15%
visual impediment to the new city. With legislationYear 7                    
that encouraged investment in services and60-72                          
several developing countries seeking to privatize      
waste management, Delhi was encouraged to do       15%
so too, as part of its quest to be what is oftenYear 6                    
described as a ‘world class city.”73-84                                 
Another important reason was Commonwealth20                            
Games, scheduled to be held in 2009 in Delhi. The        15%
leader of the Delhi Parliament described the need,Year 8 onwards      85 onwards         
“All these measures would enable Delhi to              
become a clean and neat city, which is the need       15%
of the hour in view of the fact that theSource : Contract signed between the MCD and
Commonwealth Games are due to take place inPrivate Operator, 2005
2010 and thousands of foreign tourists would be- Waste recyclers, particularly at the lower levels
visiting Delhi. There is a need to give a completeof the chain, are characteristically poorly educated,
facelift to the Municipal Solid Waste Managementearning less than 2 dollars a day, and self
System in MCD.”employed. Recycling is one of the few
Hence, privatization of waste collection andoccupations open to them, where they provide
transportation (hereby referred to asthemselves with employment and contribute
privatization) was not just a policy, but indicated aessential services to the city. They typically do
fundamental loss of confidence in the ability of thenot have the access to resources that allow
municipality to supply the city with essentialthem upward mobility, and are particularly
services. The decision also indicated the perceivedvulnerable. A system that does not take them
new needs of a rapidly changing Capital City.into consideration is likely to increase urban
This paper unpacks the interaction between thepoverty and place greater stress on the
informal sector and the private waste contractorsrecyclers. The impacts of this can be felt by the
and the impact of privatization on the informalentire family; Reduced parental income amongst
sector in Delhi. It uses the unfolding ofthe poor require children to contribute to the
privatization in Delhi and global experiences tofamily income, differential priorities for
understand the issue and to suggest how wastechildren’s education come into play, increase
can be handled in an equitable manner.the pressure of work on women, reduce available
Framing Privatizationnutrition, reduced expenses for medical care and
There have been several ways by whichdifferentiated access within the family to health
governments across the world have approachedcare, the breaking up of social capital and the
privatization of services. The early ideas ofconsequences of that. This in turn violates the
privatization began in the late 1970s and 1980s,objectives of the Millennium Development Goals,
with governments like that of Margaret Thatcherto which India is also committed
in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the USA. In this- Waste, which is a mixture of discards, is no
context, privatization came to mean a shift inlonger able to lend itself to a developmental, social
activities or functions from the state to therole but becomes a purely commercial object
private sector as well as the shift of productionIV. The Global Experience
of goods from the public to the private sector.It is useful to examine comparable global
Governments then began to stop directlyexperience and to determine to what extent the
producing services, but enacting legislation and theexperiences have been similar. In general, the
framework for these to be privately produced.three regions about which the most information is
In this case, privatization has beenavailable are Africa, East Asia and Latin America.
‘privatization by attrition,’ as the qualityIn Central Africa, unlike in Egypt and South Africa,
of services was seen to be allowed to run downthere are little informal waste recycling activities.
and in need of urgent reinvigoration.This is because of the low level of industrialization,
In India, privatization of solid waste handling hasparticularly of the recycling sector. Where
two components, from the municipal perspective.factories exist, they are able to reprocess the
The first is related to transportation of the wastewaste of several countries, leaving little scope and
and the second to its appropriate disposal,viability for other units.
recycling or use in waste to energy projects.However, in Egypt, privatization has resulted in a
Privatization of waste handling in Delhi is currentlyloss of livelihoods for the Zabaleen, or the
limited to the MCD. It has been framed by officialstraditional waste handlers. Estimates are that in
here as a taking over of existing municipal1997, the Zabaleen handled one third of
systems for more efficient functioning. Hence, theCairo’s waste, which was almost 3000 tons.
waste contracts demand efficient collection fromOf this, 85% was recycled directly through the
the dhalaos, transportation to the landfill and aZabaleen’s self-owned and operated
stage wise segregation of the waste.micro-enterprises that were constantly
A few of the most significant clauses in theupgraded.Despite this, officials did not wish to
contract are as follows:include them in their privatization plans as their
- Article 5.15 : Sale/distribution of recyclablework was considered unhygienic and the new
substancesprivate investors seemed to be a better prospect
The concessionaire shall be free to sell orfor Cairo.
otherwise dispose of recyclable substances andWhen privatization began here in the early years
other materials recovered from the Municipal Solidof 2000, it included waste collection from the
Waste at such price and to such persons anddoorsteps. The Zabaleen were additionally
using such marketing and selling arrangements andimpacted as many of them earned by pelletizing
strategies as it may deem appropriate.plastics.  Loss of access to waste plastics
- Article 5.19d : Endeavor to improve the ancillaryresulted in an additional loss of income.
conditions and infrastructure related to theSome estimates put the number of job losses at
project, including assistance to the project75,000. After a period of being displaced, and an
including assistance to informal recycling workersinternational campaign, the Zabaleen were able to
- Article 5.19l. Be responsible for all the health,regain some lost ground by being involved in the
security, environment and safety aspects of thewaste collection. Researchers have concluded that
project at all times during the concession period.their inclusion was related to the fact that
- Article 5.19t :Endeavour to employ the informalimplementing the contract became impossible
Municipal Solid Waste collectors within thewithout the help of the Zabaleen and their skill
concession area to carry out the work ofsets. Moreover, in Egypt, the privatization
collection and segregation of MSW, in accordancecompanies used mechanical means to collect
with this agreement and applicable law.waste, which was unviable in the old city with
- Article 6 : MCD Obligations : Give all assistance tonarrow roads. It was here that the Zabaleen with
the concessionaire to employ the existing informaldonkey carts were able to help the companies to
Municipal Solid Waste collectors including ragfulfill their legal obligations.
pickers and assist the concessionaire in solvingCurrently, several, but not all the Zabaleen have
issues arising from the redeployment andbeen able to regain their former work, but they
employment of such waste collectors by theclaim to earn less than they used to. Additionally,
concessionairelocal NGOs say that while they were organized,
Therefore, the contract shows that the MCD isafter prolonged negotiation, to work on a more
aware of the sector.equal footing with the traditional middlemen,
In the context of this discussion, the followingWahiya previously, they have now been re-hired
aspects of the contract must be kept in mind:as workers under the same middlemen. The
- The private contractor is paid for the wastepicture is unclear, as others assert that they are
collected by weightnow free of the Wahiya, who, ironically, paid them
- The ownership of the recyclable waste lies withmore than the private companies currently do.
the contracting companyPrivate contractors now claim , “ It is our
- The private contractors have the right tostrategy to employ the local Zabaleen. We want
manage the dhalaos as their own spaces , withto avoid conflict and this satisfies the social
rights to advertise on the walls and to fence offcomponent of our contract.”  On their part,
the waste dumped therethe Zableen have constantly emphasized that
- Additional spaces to store the segregated drytheir earnings are not based on payment as much
waste will be allocated to the contractors duringas access to the recyclables. The companies have
the 8 year contract period. The contractor istherefore turned a blind eye to the fact that the
expected to segregate waste in a graded mannerZabaleen now additionally take the waste and are
over timenot characteristic employees.
Therefore, despite how it is framed in officialIn Tanzania’s Dar-es-Salaam, the impulse to
discourse, privatization in Delhi is not a directprivatize was driven by the poor impression of
transfer of a set of services from thethat country. The privatization of waste was
government to the private sector.  A new role,undertaken in collaboration with UN HABITAT and
in keeping with evolving thinking by technicalwas deemed a resounding success, because of
experts, and the changing nature of the city itself,the noticeable cleanliness. The scale of privatization
was created for the private company. Both thewas unique. Rather than foreign companies, it was
collection and disposal services provided by thethe local community based organizations and small
government and the segregation services by thelocal businesses that were facilitated to provide
informal sector, were handed over to the privatewaste collection services from households. The
contractor. Public assets of built land and spacesavings by the municipal bodies was used for road
were also handed over as part of the contract.construction and maintenance.
II. Implementing PrivatizationWe do not have any known information about
In order to implement the process, the IDFCthe informal sector operations here prior to this.
(Infrastructure Development and FinanceBased on the available information, this kind of
Corporation), was contracted to manage theprivatization is noteworthy because it built upon
process of privatization on a turnkey basis. Aexisting structures. After this phase, as larger
global tender was put out and bids sought. Thereplayers entered the scene, the scenario may
were no detailed discussions or consultations withhave been altered. In sharp contrast, in Kenya, an
any other interest groups, except for an initialItalian company, Jacorossi International, was
meeting prior to the writing of the bid. During thisinvited to take over waste management amidst
meeting, there was intense opposition by NGOswide spread protests.
to the privatization on various counts. TheseIn Accra, Ghana, researchers point out that
included the in-build disincentive for wasteprivatization has achieved nothing that a revitalized
generators to segregate, the marginalization ofprivate sector could not have done, had it
the informal recycling sector and the level ofcomplied by the country’s laws and enforced
private involvement. The last point was based onexisting regulation. Instead, the authors point out,
whether the contractor should also be involved inthe privatization effort is “structured to
collecting waste from the households or not.benefit private interests by excluding the
There was no further discussion.public.”
Finally three companies were selected and theirIn Columbia, local initiatives have borne results.
work was scheduled to begin in June 2005.The results of organized waste recyclers are
The most notable amongst the privatealready visible. Across the country, 10,000
companies, Delhi Waste Management (DWM), is awastepicker families have formed 118
consortium of transportation companies andcooperatives that are allowing them to bring in
financiers. What sets this company aside is that itover 300,000 tons of recycled materials into the
was allocated what were perceived by themarket. The strength of the groups lie in their
competing companies and the municipal workersability to federate under the National Association
as the most ‘lucrative’ zones. The othersof Recyclers, which helps them to enhance their
were allotted zones that were less developed, orbusiness activities through capacity building and
older and therefore, with poorer infrastructurecredit. They also offer waste handling services to
and with less influential residents.various institutions. Although privatization has been
Each contractor was to ensure that the waste inchallenging for the sector, they have been able to
the dhalao (an intermediary transfer point, oftennegotiate for niche work, such as fees based
like a room )  was segregated, the dhalao and itsservice provision. More recently, in 2003, under
defined surroundings of 25 feet was clean and theDecree 1713, part 1505, wastepickers have been
waste was collected and transported at regularincluded and their rights to participate in solid
hours to the landfill. Each contractor was given awaste management plans , at the development
list of existing dhalaos to ease their work.and follow up stages, has been made formal. n
Prior to this, for over two years, the DelhiArgentina, a Zero Waste Decree makes it
Government initiated the Bhagidari (literal meaning :mandatory for private waste handlers to provide
partnership) scheme where middle and highfacilities for the informal sector to segregate and
income residential areas were trained tostore recyclable waste. In this case, the
understand the importance of segregation ofwastepicking sector has consciously not pushed
waste into dry and wet categories. Thisfor a strict implementation of the rule, since many
programme was well publicized and severalof them see themselves in the work only
hundred residents from the more affluent partstemporarily, due to economic hardships.
of Delhi were invited to attend these trainings.A common experience in several countries has
This does not seem to have been implemented,been that of formal sector workers organizing
since the waste arrived at the bins in anagainst privatization, for fear of job losses. From
unsegregated manner, despite a law that made itSingapore to Pakistan, reports show that agitating
mandatory for waste generators to segregate.workers are able to negotiate with the
The task of the private company therefore wasgovernment to retain their employment, often
not impacted by the Bhagidari scheme, underlyingeven scaring them to delay privatization. In
the failure of the exercise. This failure also droveSingapore, one of the suggested ways to handle
home the point that residents were unlikelythe fallout was to set up a fund for displaced
segregate their waste and an external agencyworkers. In Pakistan, workers were forced to
would have to continue to do so for them.take to the streets. From this, it becomes clear
Traditionally, the informal recycling sector hasthat formal sector workers, already in the formal
always segregated the waste and sold it in therealm, are able to organize themselves to protest
chain for reprocessing.more effectively. It is therefore critical that the
A survey of the privatized areas undertaken ininformal sector also be organized.
January 2006, preceded by a discussion withBased on these experiences, it is clear that:
managers of DWM revealed that the company- Waste recyclers must be organized if they are
had sub-contracted each area to smaller players,to negotiate in the event of privatization
who acted as labour providers. Using this model,- The access to waste is a critical part of any
each sub-contracted party would provide a fixedwaste recyclers work. Being employed is more a
number of workers who would be called binmeans than a desired end
guides. They would be stationed at a dhalao or- Where the informal sector activity is already
bin, cleaning the bins, segregating waste andvery low, the impact of privatization will not be
helping load the compactors. Many of them wouldeasy to discern
also live in the bins overnight, as they were unableV. Conclusions and Recommendations
to find inexpensive housing neaby. Few of themThe analysis in the preceding sections makes it
were waste pickers, but several were simply paidclear that it is economically and socially desirable
daily wagers. On an average, they were paidto include the informal recycling sector in any
appx. 1/3rd of the minimum daily wages, or Rs.waste management initiative. The errors,
1000 and had no social security. However theexperiences and the studies detailed previously
workers had informal access to dry waste, whichthrow light on the possible ways by which this can
was sold to a junk dealer and significantlybe done.
supplemented the income.This author believes that privatization of waste is
This model was only viable in high income areasinevitable in the developing world, because of the
where there was adequate recyclable wasteoverriding trust that policymakers and multilateral
discarded. In lower income areas, the worker wasdonors globally have in this path. As cities become
forced to live off the payments and often,more global and require competing for visibility,
undertake responsibility for a cluster of bins, infunds, investments, expertise and drawing in
order to optimize his earnings. This resulted ineconomic prosperity, many more city planners
lower quality of work and poorer work conditions.and policy makers will be under pressure to take
It was also difficult to implement this in areasthis path of seemingly, the least resistance. Much
where large amounts of organic waste wereof the citizenry and the media sees privatization
produced. In South Delhi’s Dakshin Puri area,as a good step and has created a demand for
the waste from processing fruit and vegetablesthis market driven form of services.
was so enormous that the workers were forcedIn several cases, privatization has come to mean
to stay out of the dhalaos  and work from athe right to exclude others. Proponents of this
distance.argue that if this is not the case, the tragedy of
According to several media reports, thethe commons will kick in. We have seen that that
performance of DWM in handling waste has beenthe contrary holds true in the case of Delhi. The
poor, based on the quality of visual cleanliness.fencing-off of common resources and transferring
Other companies have received less flack andof public property into private hands is indicative
none of it is reported as yet in the media.of poor policy making. The informal waste
The NDMC is also now preparing to privatize therecycling sector is also a private player, offering
waste handling, on the same lines as the MCD.important environmental services to the city. It is
Initial cost comparisons are known only informallytherefore important to see its work as already
and via discussions with the private operators.operating in the private sector and therefore,
According to a former official of DWM,  the costfollow similar policies to promote it.
per truck to the company was only $ 40, whichAgainst this backdrop, privatization needs to be
is significantly less than that of the MCD’s $.reconsidered in fundamental ways. It should not
140 or the NDMC’s $ 180 per truck. Greaterbe seen as a solution to a dirty city, or a formula
efficiency and stricter monitoring is likely to beheld exclusively in the private sector. Rather, it
one cause for this significant drop, as are,must be viewed as one of many possible
possibly, different approaches to calculating thesolutions to specific aspects of the waste
cost, which may hide some costs. A recent Worldmanagement cycle. One of the important aspects
Bank reportsuggests that this difference is anis developing disposal facilities, a section not
India wide phenomenon, and that the differencediscussed in this paper, but one that requires large
can be in the range of 20-40%. Comparing theinvestments and technical know-how.
costs of waste collection and transportation in 10Nor should privatization be privileged over other
towns in the southern Indian state of Karnataka,indigenous forms of waste handling, whether they
the report shows the trend of cost reductionbe waste recycling through the informal sector or
across the board. However, the Bank suggestscommunity based innovations. Instead, it should be
that “One of the reasons for the relativelyclearly accepted that complete corporatized
lower costs incurred by the contractor is quotedprivatization will result in more asymmetrical
as differential wages, particularly when privateoutcomes. It should be clear that the informal
contractors tend to pay lower than minimumrecycling sector is also providing private services
wages to their sanitary workers.” Theto the city and should be viewed as such.
government, on the other hand, cannot indulge inA central shift in understanding must inform policy
such practices and therefore would incur muchon privatization. Currently, waste management
higher costs for the same labour performed bycompanies involved in privatization are typically
the same number of workers. It also pays socialaccountable in highly quantitative terms, such as
security to many of them.the amount of waste collected, the response time
Comparing these findings, it is likely that theto complaints and the fleet efficiency. However, in
privatization process is economically viable only ata developing country, in whose cities almost 1%
the cost of underpaying the workers.of the population is dependant on waste recycling
III. The Impact on the Informal Sector Wastefor a living, this must be dovetailed into all
Recyclerspractices. As previously explained, the sector is
According to the former Municipal Commissionerbased on a complex system of cooperation and
of Delhi, Rakesh Mehta, the design of thecompetition, which is still not entirely understood
privatization system was intentionally differentand which itself seems to be constantly evolving.
from that of other cities in that the contract didTherefore, instead of trying to de-construct this
not start at the doorstep of the generator.sector, it is more practical to follow guidelines that
Instead, this space was left open for informalare likely to encourage it to develop and
players, so that they could access the waste thatincentivize its participation in the process, instead
they wanted. Another reason was also that thisof alienating it.
was likely to prove too complex for the privateClearly, then, the social efficiency of privatization
contractors themselves.must be considered too. Not doing this fractures
Despite this, a study of the contract signed withthe social fabric, particularly amongst the poor and
the private contractor reveals that the work ofthe most vulnerable, leading to irreparable losses
the informal sector, as it is being actuallyof social capital and of their increased vulnerability,
performed, has not been taken into account.and in theory at least, increasing the burden on
Although their role has been acknowledged bythe government. This is the single most important
various government bodies for well over alesson learnt from the Indian and International
decade prior to privatization, it finally excludesexperiences of privatization of waste services.
them. This is likely to be for three reasons. Firstly,Some recommendations that flow from this
that the sector has not been well appreciated inconclusion are described below :
the past to merit adequate inclusion. It is not on- The central site of conflict is the ownership of
the radar of government bodies. Second, therecyclable, or dry waste. In both the Indian cases
working of the sector is poorly understood byas well as the international case of Egypt, it is
those involved in designing the process and itsclear that access to waste, not payment for
inclusion is therefore unlikely to have a good fit,working at site, remains central to the
should it be undertaken. Thirdly, the vision of awastepickers. Hence, any contract must
city with an efficient system of privatized wastenecessarily include a clause specifying that right
does not include wastepickers or other informalover recyclable waste belongs to the
sector recyclers, since they are in contradiction towastepickers first. Access to waste for
the idea of the modern and the ordered. Awastepickers is the backbone of any policy made
former Chairperson of the NDMC expressed thefor waste in India
imagined city succinctly when he remarked, “I- Global experiences show that privatization must
want our streets to look like Singapore.”not begin even at the dhalao level, and must be
The following sections analyze the impact ofrestricted to transportation. Bids should be for the
privatization on the various levels of the informaltransportation and dumping sector, and not prior
sector.to that. A lesson should be drawn from the
Wastepickersdecision of the MCD not to enter the household
Many of the workers are not wastepickers, butlevel for privatization. This is an example to follow.
other informal sector workers or wage labourers.- Some wastepickers work at the landfills.
This indicates a gradual displacement of theAlthough this is unsafe work, privatization should
wastepickers from their work. It also indicates aninclude their rights over waste that reaches here.
artificially increasing competition for a limitedIn the medium term, the wastepickers and their
resource. By itself, this fall out is clearly anorganizations should examine other, safer ways to
undesirable one.earn through recycling activities
But there are several other ways by which the- Any plan for solid waste management in India
means of privatization is breaking down the wastemust necessarily be informed by an understanding
picking system.and an appreciation of the informal recycling
A recent survey showed that in such sites wheresector. This implies designing systems that can
a wastepicker was on duty, it was often to thestrengthen an existing system and ride on it. In
exclusion of all other wastepickers. Usually, mostthis case,  the bid should have included a section
wastepickers move from bin to bin at peak hourson including the sector and allow the bidders to
along a fixed territorial route which is shared bysuggest how they would want to do this, after
other wastepickers. Alternatively, a fewhelping them to understand the issue.
wastepickers take over dhalaos, from whereUnderstanding the sector must be made a part of
they mine the waste as it is thrown in. This isthe bidding process, just as several other aspects
then their monopoly. Wastepickers find severalare explained and clarified. It is critical not to leave
ways to both collaborate and compete throughthe bidders without this understanding on their
unwritten codes of conduct and community andown
peer pressure. As a result, a complex and- The informal sector must be treated as a tightly
evolving system of resource sharing comes intoknitted chain, and one that must not be
play, resulting in one of the highest rates offragmented, if the city is to reap the benefits it
recycling in the world. This informal systemoffers. Hence, the chain should not be tampered
therefore plays out not as the tragedy of thewith or be modified to become ‘modern’
commons but remarkably, the opposite of it.except where consensual use of newer
By breaking the existing system and replacing ittechnologies or new design can be offered,
with ‘bin guides,’ waste is no longer ablethough not imposed. The case of Egypt, where
to be shared amongst a vast community of theplastic is recycled by the Zabaleen, is a case in
poor. It is instead monopolized via an individual.point.
Moreover, by hiring persons who are inherently- In order to be able to participate gainfully in a
entrepreneurial, the incentive to seek out wasteshifting city, waste recyclers must organize
to segregate and sell is killed, as a new debilitatingthemselves as a tangible, legal entity that can
dependency is fostered. Many such people areenter into contracts and negotiations on behalf of
stuck, because refusing an underpaying job mayits members. It is often difficult for policymakers
result in job loss or a lost opportunity to leverageto find ways of including a sector that exists
better terms of work.through individual or family enterprise, but without
The poor typically harness their social capital toany defined collective organization and indeed, it is
get through difficult times. Systems such as thebeyond the imagination of defined structures to
one described above are likely to break up thiswork with these
social capital because they rupture the basis on- Taking a cue from the policies in place in
acting like a community and instead, seek toColumbia, such recyclers’ organizations should
create a new ‘professional’ individualbe recognized and be privileged through the cycle
outside this system. This considerably weakensof waste handling. Studies have shown that
the individual and the community, which is seen toallowing the sector to work legitimately
provide valuable services where the statesignificantly impacts their poverty levels and
government fails or is unable to.improve their work conditions.
The model above is indicative of the many- One commonly observed trend in community
problems with this form of privatization. Thelevel waste management is that of local
system of contracting to the lowest bidder has aresources, such as volunteer time, subsiding the
ripple effect at the dhalao level, wherelives of waste recyclers and detailed networks,
underpayment to workers becomes the onlycreating innovative kinds of social security for
economically viable form of functioning.workers in the urban context. Instead of
Sub-contracting places priorities on cleanliness, butoverriding those, privatization should let them be
does not lay safety standards for workers.and not attempt to meddle with them for
Moreover, it continues to operate along the samehomogeneity. A study of Churchill County, in the
degraded quality of work, involving standing inUnited States, calculated that privatization of
waste, and exposes the worker to the samewaste handling could result in 279 less jobs,
hazards as previously.reduction in county household income by $36.171
In some areas, a quid pro quo system appears tomillion, 14,735 hours of voluntary time, and $
have been established. A site visit to a small85,233 in charitable donations. These unaccounted
dhalao in Delhi’s elite Gulmohar Park Areafor costs are only in the developed world. They
suggested that in smaller and more discreetlyare likely to even higher in the developing world
located bins, a wastepicker may access theand should be left undisturbed
waste in return for helping with loading the- The MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)
compactors. In other parts of Delhi, municipalshould be mainstreamed into waste handling,
workers were seen at the bin sites supervisingbecause of the opportunity this provides in
wastepickers who were loading waste intotackling poverty through micro enterprises,
receptacles installed for the purpose. A discussionindividual enterprise and demonstrated low capital
with the workers indicated that their role wasand running costs.
both unclear at that point as well as in transition.If there is to be privatization of solid waste
In the meantime, they were still responsible formanagement services, it must be designed to be
overseeing the waste handling by the privateequitable for everyone. It can offer answers for
operator. Given that on site cleanliness was linkedurban poverty and the increasing urban
with efficient supervision, the officials continue toenvironmental problems we face. If urban policy
use existing linkages of coercion to carry out themakers are to use this for the optimal benefit of
task at hand.a city, then privatization should be seen  as a
The ownership of space-the dhalaos and bins-hasmeans of enabling the urban poor, not
also negatively impacted wastepickers. Earlier,disempowering them. This requires a paradigm
they would segregate their waste in theseshift and visionary leadership, but there are
dhalaos, as the only available space to undertakerudimentary examples to build up from.
such work. Now, DWM  does not allow this andReferences
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