Challenges in ‘Community Organisation’ …
181
for higher storage space in this activity compels households/units engaged in scrap
picking to stay/operate in the different locations in core city areas. Such dispersed
community poses a challenge for ‘community organisation’ initiatives particularly
for strategies revolving around identification of common location-based issues and
needs. Moreover, the transaction costs of undertaking ‘community organisation’
activities also shoot up due to the dispersed location of units/households. Unless
clustering is promoted through technological solutions for compact storage or sharing
of storage space are devised this would continue to remain an issue.
The other possibility is to create a network of such dispersed cooperatives enterprises or household similar to the milk cooperative model of Gujarat, so that the
synergies in-spite of dispersed locations can be harnessed. There also exist certain
opportunities for promoting scrap picking at the city level. Most of these opportunities
seem to exist when the rural settlement is transforming into a peri-urban settlement.
During this phase of the urban transformation, the relative built and population density of the peripheral area is low as compared to the core areas of the city. Even
the land prices and rental values are relatively quite low. So large agricultural plots
or plots surrounding gamtal extension areas still exist that can support the setting
up of large scrap picking enterprises. Many of these areas in the periphery are also
recipients of city waste channels so it is possible to promote scrap recycling at that
stage in a settlement’s development into an urban area. The effectiveness of waste
collection practices in core city areas can be improved if mechanisms and networks
across cooperatives of scrap pickers in peri-urban and core urban areas are promoted
and built systematically.
4.4 Intense Competition
The ‘door-to-door’ and ‘street-side’ scrap pickers form the majority among all the
different categories of waste pickers. Since the operational areas of the ‘door-to-door’
and ‘street-side’ scrap pickers overlap there is intense competition between these two
livelihood groups involved in these kinds of waste picking. Caste affiliation and social
networks seem to play a substantial role in establishing territorial domains for waste
picking. Most interviews with ‘door-to-door waste pickers’ belonging to the dalit
sections of the scheduled caste have voiced concerns regarding the involvement of
the other non-dalit scheduled castes and other backward castes in this activity. Most
respondents indicate the leverage of their social networks and caste affiliations to
get access to not just ‘gated community spaces’, but also other forms of employment opportunities as conservancy workers with private and public municipal waste
management services. Even ‘access to customer base’ and possible clients (second
rung aggregators) of itinerant scrap buyers is mediated through social networks and
kinship relationships to ‘keep the business within their control’.
There is also competition within the same category of scrap pickers as livelihood spaces are limited and scrap picking is becoming a viable option available to
an increasing a number of labour force with no skill base. Among the street-side
181
for higher storage space in this activity compels households/units engaged in scrap
picking to stay/operate in the different locations in core city areas. Such dispersed
community poses a challenge for ‘community organisation’ initiatives particularly
for strategies revolving around identification of common location-based issues and
needs. Moreover, the transaction costs of undertaking ‘community organisation’
activities also shoot up due to the dispersed location of units/households. Unless
clustering is promoted through technological solutions for compact storage or sharing
of storage space are devised this would continue to remain an issue.
The other possibility is to create a network of such dispersed cooperatives enterprises or household similar to the milk cooperative model of Gujarat, so that the
synergies in-spite of dispersed locations can be harnessed. There also exist certain
opportunities for promoting scrap picking at the city level. Most of these opportunities
seem to exist when the rural settlement is transforming into a peri-urban settlement.
During this phase of the urban transformation, the relative built and population density of the peripheral area is low as compared to the core areas of the city. Even
the land prices and rental values are relatively quite low. So large agricultural plots
or plots surrounding gamtal extension areas still exist that can support the setting
up of large scrap picking enterprises. Many of these areas in the periphery are also
recipients of city waste channels so it is possible to promote scrap recycling at that
stage in a settlement’s development into an urban area. The effectiveness of waste
collection practices in core city areas can be improved if mechanisms and networks
across cooperatives of scrap pickers in peri-urban and core urban areas are promoted
and built systematically.
4.4 Intense Competition
The ‘door-to-door’ and ‘street-side’ scrap pickers form the majority among all the
different categories of waste pickers. Since the operational areas of the ‘door-to-door’
and ‘street-side’ scrap pickers overlap there is intense competition between these two
livelihood groups involved in these kinds of waste picking. Caste affiliation and social
networks seem to play a substantial role in establishing territorial domains for waste
picking. Most interviews with ‘door-to-door waste pickers’ belonging to the dalit
sections of the scheduled caste have voiced concerns regarding the involvement of
the other non-dalit scheduled castes and other backward castes in this activity. Most
respondents indicate the leverage of their social networks and caste affiliations to
get access to not just ‘gated community spaces’, but also other forms of employment opportunities as conservancy workers with private and public municipal waste
management services. Even ‘access to customer base’ and possible clients (second
rung aggregators) of itinerant scrap buyers is mediated through social networks and
kinship relationships to ‘keep the business within their control’.
There is also competition within the same category of scrap pickers as livelihood spaces are limited and scrap picking is becoming a viable option available to
an increasing a number of labour force with no skill base. Among the street-side