How Pune-based SWaCH is helping waste pickers lead a life of dignity and hope

Born in Pune, Sarika Karadkar always considered the city a place of endless opportunities. Her mother, who used to collect waste from houses in return for food, had migrated from Solapur to Pune in search of a better life. However, the lack of opportunities forced her mother to resort to waste-picking in Pune too, and at eight years old, Sarika started helping her mother.

"I started working with my mother when I was a kid, following her as she picked through mountains of waste," Sarika recounts. She used to go to school twice a week and collect waste with her mother on the other days. She eventually had to drop out after the 10th standard due to their poor economic conditions.

Her life took a turn for the better with SWaCH.  

A cooperative society owned by waste pickers, SWaCH provides daily doorstep waste collection services to more than 40 lakh residents of Pune. It is a collective of 3,900+ waste pickers who also participate in the governance of the cooperative.

It emerged from  Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), a trade union of waste pickers and itinerant waste buyers in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, formed in 1993. SWaCH has enabled waste pickers to build a long-lasting and direct partnership with Pune Municipal Corporation for doorstep collection of waste. 

A SWaCh spokesperson, who did not wish to be named, says, “Each day, a SWaCH waste picker collects segregated waste from 200-250 houses using a non-motorised push cart. Each waste picker has the right to reclaim recyclables from the dry waste and send these for recycling.

In total, SWaCH waste pickers recycle 200 tonnes of dry waste each day. Waste pickers are compensated for their work by citizens through user fees, and through the sale of recyclables. For 3-5 hours of work, a waste picker earns a total of Rs 16,000 to 20,000 monthly. Waste pickers themselves have played an IEC (information, engagement, communication) role, leading to 98% source segregation in Pune.”

Over the years, the model has evolved from waste collection into city-level zero-waste solutions. 

Sarika’s mother joined KKPKP in 2008, moving from collecting waste from the streets to garbage collection at the doorstep. Later, she joined SWaCH.When her mother fell ill, Sarika took over the role.

Sarika’s work includes collecting waste from individual houses, segregating it and composting it. This has been Sarika’s life for 28 years. She earns her income from collecting fees from citizens amounting to Rs 85 per house.

However, there are challenges.

"There is a struggle all the time, particularly with bachelor boys, since they never segregate waste and some don't even give me my very nominal dues,” she rues.

"Jaise haath ki ungliyan ek jaisi nahi hoti, waise hi sab log bhi ek jaise nahi hote (How each finger is different, each person is also not the same)," Sarika says while reflecting on the differential treatment she gets from households.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought out the best and the worst from the people. While some families gave her medicines to support her, many others were showing outright discrimination. "Some people don't even let me enter the house, use the washroom, and discriminate even in giving water," she shares. One incident she cannot forget was when a family shockingly asked her to collect their garbage even though they had a coronavirus sticker on their door, indicating they were quarantined.

Her work also takes a toll on her body. The daily lifting of heavy, foul-smelling waste affects her health. Still, Sarika remains optimistic: "I call my work successful as I get to add to my family income and even get time to do other work. I also get insurance coverage due to SWaCH.”

She also now maintains a good relationship with her husband, who had a falling out with his family was another hurdle, but then he joined SWaCH in 2016-17.

 "Conditions have improved now, I send my daughter to school," she beams. 

 Her work with SWaCH has opened floodgates she never knew existed. "I got the opportunity to go abroad and to other cities of India through the SWaCH organisation. I feel very happy as earlier I had never gone beyond Kothrud (in Pune)," she exclaims. Sarika travelled to Nepal, Argentina, and Indonesia, meeting with waste picker groups, labour rights organisations, and environmentalists on plastic segregation and waste management. 

Her hopes for the future are simple yet profound: more organised contracts, basic safety protections for her family, and equal treatment from society.

She now says, "I thank SWaCH for bringing improvement to our situation, fighting for us, and getting us our basic salary." She hopes to make her life better and invest more in her child’s education. Her daughter goes to school and many other children from the SWaCH community family have become engineers. “One girl from our community has joined the navy, we want our daughter to also study hard.”