Chennai’s ragpickers and their contributions to waste management and circular economy remain in the dark.
Subashini K J J
Chennai, Tamil Nadu January 13, 2025
Varalakshmi R, 26, beamed as she showed an expired pack of toothpaste to her youngest sister, Mo-
hana.”This toothpaste will last us a month,” said Mohana R, 15, checking the paste’s consistency on her finger.
Varalakshmi (in pink) sharing a light moment with her friends
Varalakshmi and her sister collect waste from the Kodungaiyur dump yard of the Greater Chennai Corporation(GCC).The stench of the Kodungaiyur dump yard in North Chennai is overpowering. Even those who live a kilometre away can smell it.
At the dump yard, such items are treasure.
“The dump yard is like a grocery shop.We find everything here, from toothpaste to masala packets. They have been thrown out because they expired,” said Varalakshmi.
The ragpickers sift through filth such as sanitary napkins, medical waste, diapers,human excreta and rotting garbage to get to the good stuff: plastic, glass, metals, coconut shells and paper, which they sell at scrap shops and eke out a living.
“Copper from melted wires fetch us the most money from scrap shops,” said Vasandhi P, a 44-year-old ragpicker. The ragpickers earn from Rs 300 to 1000 a day.
Segregating waste into plastic, metals and coconut shells to sell at scrap shops
Struggle for Recognition
Varalakshmi and Mohana have been collecting waste since they were children.
The sisters represent the invisible workforce behind Chennai’s recycling ecosystem. Ragpickers recover an estimated 1,600 tons of plastic material monthly, according to Kabadiwalla Connect, a waste management company.
They are not employed by the GCC but vital to the city’s waste management.
Lorry after lorry carries 3,000 tons of waste daily to Kodungaiyur, according to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.
Earth movers at work in Kodungaiyur
“Without ragpickers, there is no recycling industry. It is the urban local body’s duty to identify how ragpickers contribute to this system,” said Bianca Fernandes, Policy advocate at Hasiru Dala, an organisation for waste pickers. She said that the first step in that direction is to provide professional identity cards, signed by the
Corporation commissioner, which can help them get ration cards, health insurance, and benefits from the government.
Some of the ragpickers in Chennai have been given identity cards by the corpora-
tion, but they do not carry any additional benefits, said R. Kannan, assistant ex-
ecutive engineer from Solid Waste Management Department, GCC.
Just a few metress away from where Varalakshmi is sitting, 32-year-old Madhan S. rests on top of the garbage. His eyes are yellow. “Anna, hospital ponga,”(Brother, go to the hospital) said Varalakshmi. She
thinks he might have jaundice.
“The Chennai Corporation does not give health insurance to rag pickers. It does not
even recognise them as workers, ” said R.Geetha, general secretary of the Unorganised Workers Federation.
Since the ragpickers do not have protective equipment, they often get infections, said Shalin Maria Lawrence, activist and writer. Typhoid, jaundice, and skin diseases are common among rag pickers in the dump yard, she said.
The Pune Municipal Corporation became the first municipality in the country in 2011 to provide rag pickers with health insurance after Kagad Kach Patra Kashtkari Panchayat (KKPKP), a union of rag
pickers in Pune fought for it.
Breaking the Cycle
Access to education remains out of reach for many. “We try hard to get the children to school, but they escape,” said Devaneyan A., founder of Thozhamai, an NGO working to rehabilitate ragpickers.
His organization currently teaches children from about 40 ragpicking families.
People from Arunodhaya tried to get her to go to school, but she went there only for the midday meals, said Varalakshmi. Arunodaya is a centre that works with children who are engaged with work and live on
the streets.
“In Tamil Nadu, we boast about a high Gross Enrolment Ratio in schools. But why are these children not taken care of by the Greater Chennai Corporation?” Shalin asks. “Is the state maintaining this
system because it benefits them?”
For now, due recognition for ragpickers’ work remains a pipe dream. After picking through waste for 11 hours, Varalakshmi heads home to her house in Ezhil Nagar, provided by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board.
“I used to work at night wearing a headlight like actor Vijayakanth in the song’Aatama, Therotama’ from ‘Captain Prabhakaran,'” she jokes.
“Whether it rains or the sun shines,I’m at the dump yard picking.I cannot afford not to pick,” she said.
Ragpickers in Chennai are more prone to skin diseases since they do have gloves.