“One life-form turns into another. Recycling is like that,” says Ramnikbhai Satra, a scrap dealer, as he compares inanimate objects taking on another form to the cycle of death and rebirth. Even as he speaks to me, he keeps an eye on one of his workers weighing newspapers and flattened cartons, answers a customer who wants to know the price of some plastic objects kept in a tray next to which there is a box of glass jars of all shapes and sizes. “Individuals sell this stuff to me. Then it is picked up for recycling by different people— a different person for glass, for paper and so on,” he explains.
Recycling—one of the three Rs of ‘Reduce, Refuse and Recycle’— is considered to be one among a cluster of solutions including segregation at source, composting, and decentralised processing, to reduce the burden on our landfills. Mumbai’s two currently functional dumping grounds which accept municipal solid waste (MSW) at Deonar and Kanjurmarg are filling to capacity, but more importantly, pose health hazards to the people living around the area and working there.
In fact, the state government is considering moving the Kanjurmarg dumping ground to Ambernath.
In the first and second parts of this series of articles, we took a look at the systems the BMC has in place for waste collection and disposal. In this third and final part, we look at how far recycling can be a solution to Mumbai’s garbage problem.
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What can be recycled?
Smita Birkar who is the Founder and Director of the 5R FOUNDATION says plastic, paper, metal and glass can be recycled. She adds, “Ideally, all of them could be recycled, but it also depends upon how they are manufactured. If it is an individual pure material like if it is only plastic, only paper, only metal, or only glass, then recycling is much more streamlined. Whenever you mix two materials, there are challenges when it comes to recycling.”
Plastic recycling
Plastic needs different methods of handling since it is available in different grades. A report published by the Centre for Science and Environment states that plastic can be grouped into seven categories:
| Category of plastic | Use | |
| PET | Polyethylene terephthalate | Cola and water bottles, oil cans, ketchup bottles, dry spice bottles, houseware, liquid detergent bottles, pharmaceuticals etc |
| HDPE | High density polyethylene | Food and beverage containers, cleaning product bottles, cutting boards, pipes, some shoe parts |
| LDPE | Low density polyethylene | Squeezable bottles, garbage bags, plastic gloves and single-use containers |
| PVC | Polyvinyl chloride | Drinking and waste water pipes, wire and cable insulation, medical devices, chargers etc |
| PP | Polypropylene | In the automotive industry to make instrument panels, door trims, batteries etc, use in the field of medicine to make disposable syringes, diagnostic devices, intravenous bottles, cups for hot beverages etc |
| PS | Polystyrene | Used for making thermocol, used in refrigerators, air conditioners, packaging of electronic goods etc |
| Others | Any of the plastics that do not fall under the above six categories fall under this category. | Used for making eyeglasses, sports and safety goggles, baby and sports bottles, compact discs. This kind of plastic may not be recyclable. |
“Recycling as a basic definition is when you create something again out of that. It could be in the form of the same material or it could be a different form also,” says Smita, explaining that plastic can be upcycled, recycled or downcycled.
Upcycling involves creative reuse of articles to make decorative and functional items: planters made of plastic bottles, jewellery, jewellery stands, organisers etc. This can be done by individuals at home.
Recycling refers to creating pellets from plastic waste which can then be used in new plastic products. These granules are commonly referred to as dana in Hindi. After collection of plastic waste, it is sorted according to grades and types, shredded to smaller pieces and then cleaned thoroughly to remove impurities like labels, adhesives etc.
Then it is melted and turned into pellets which find application in a range of industries from packaging to automotives besides being used in plastic lumber, furniture such as chairs, tables, benches etc and other household goods such as buckets, flower pots etc. 5 to 10% of these products have recycled plastic.
Smita says, “To put it in a very simple way, anything that is non-pharma or food related application. Recycled plastics are not allowed in these industries ideally. When you are using that plastic again and recycling again, that particular journey can go on up to 5 to 7 times. It can be blended with new plastic and you can keep rerouting that.”
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Downcycling involves turning non-recyclable plastic with high calorific value into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) which is used instead of coal in cement kilns or even for the generation of electricity. The guidelines on the use of RDF in various industries created by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs state that, “Non-recyclable waste having calorific value of 1500 Kcal/kg or more shall not be disposed off on landfills and shall only be utilised for generating energy either through refuse derived fuel or by giving away as feedstock for preparing refuse derived fuel.”
Glass, made of naturally found materials, can be repeatedly recycled except for some kinds which do not lend themselves easily to recycling: heat-resistant glass which can be used in ovens, light bulbs, mirrors, window glass, because they have to be treated to carry out specific functions.
Another important thing to remember about glass recycling is to ensure that the glass is clean and to remove metal or plastic caps, foil coverings etc.
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Journey of waste
There are scrap dealers like Ramnikbahi all over the city, some whose enterprises are much larger than his small local shop.
Smita points out there is high-value plastic such as oil cans, PET bottles and low-value plastic such as multilayer plastic (MLP) out of which packets of sauce, chips are made. The latter usually ends up in a landfill because the handling cost of MLP recycling is too high to be really viable.
Ashwin Malwade of Ek Saath Foundation agrees, “Most recyclers are not able to process MLP because MLP needs to be sent to a cement kiln and it costs about Rs. 4 to 5 per kilo. So most of the recyclers don’t have the reach or the bandwidth to process MLP.”
A source formerly working at an NGO for waste pickers claimed that he left his job because although the said NGO accepted MLP for recycling, it separated it out, paying the BMC to collect it which meant it would ultimately end up in a landfill.
High-value plastic is collected by waste pickers, the first-level aggregators and sold to scrap dealers, the level-two aggregators in this chain. It goes further to level three aggregators and then to recyclers. Segregation is done by the level one and two aggregators
Unsung heroes of the recycling ecosystem: waste pickers
In the affluent neighbourhood of the area around Shakti Mills in Mahalaxmi, I met a family of three. The woman was filling long bales of upholstery foam into a big plastic sack, pausing only to vigorously scratch her hands which had developed red blotches, some of which were covered with what looked like turmeric paste.
Her three-year-old son stood next to her and in a couple of minutes her husband joined her. She said that people dumped waste there, adding that her husband would sell it to buy food for that day’s meal.
On my way back, it had started drizzling and she and her family had propped up a makeshift tent with a plastic sheet—open on two sides— where I had seen her pack the garbage into bags.
At a short distance from there were lined a number of wheelie bins where two men were picking garbage and filling it into sacks. Behind them lay an already filled sack. When I started to ask them where they would sell it, and how much they would get for it a look of fear crossed their face, they told me that they would get Rs. 40 or 50 for a full sack.
The same sense of resignation, even fear was palpable with all the waste pickers I spoke to. They get anywhere between Rs. 8 to Rs. 15 per kilo of waste. They work without any kind of protection collecting waste from houses, streets, garbage bins and transfer stations.
Despite the pivotal role they play in this ecosystem they continue to be outside the bounds of formal systems, depriving them of benefits they would otherwise get. Despite the fact that without them our already overflowing landfills would be further burdened their efforts are not recognised.
It is time for a fourth R to be introduced into the landscape of waste—radical reimagination.
| Decomposition timelines of commonly used things |
| Plastic: According to the United Nations, plastic takes anywhere between 20 to 500 years to decompose. Even after this period, it does not decompose fully but only gets smaller. Cloth: Depending upon the material, decomposition timelines for cloth vary Cotton: 1 week to 5 months Silk: 1 to 4 years Polyester: 20 to 200 years Linen: 1 to 2 weeks Leather: 25 to 50 years Nylon: 30 to 40 years Denim: 10 to 12 months (can take much longer to decompose if blended with materials like spandex) The United Nations also says that synthetic fibres are a source of microplastic. Washing and laundering of clothes leads to the release of 5,00,000 lakh tonnes of microplastics into the ocean every year. Paper: 2 to 6 weeks (This depends on the kind of paper and whether it has a wax or plastic coating on it. Shredded paper decomposes faster). Paper coffee cups are lined with plastic which may take decades to decompose. Cartons can take 30 years or more to decompose. Metal: Metal can easily be recycled, but if it ends up in a landfill it takes a long time to decompose. Depending on the metal it could take between 50 to 500 years. |