Supported By:

Baseline Survey Report

for Used Beverage Cartons

in Dehradun, Uttarakhand

August to October, 2020

Prepared By:

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Solid Waste Context

Working Towards The UN SDGs

Baseline Survey Results

Survey Location Distribution

Gender Distribution

Availability of ID Cards

Knowledge of UBCs

Collection of UBCs

Waste Categories Collected

Interest to Collect with Fair Rates

Survey Conclusions

Program Challenges

Table of ContentsEDITED

India generates an estimated 62 million tonnes of waste annually. Most municipal systems struggle to deal with such massive volumes of waste. This is why informal waste pickers play an important role by diverting recyclable material from the open trenching grounds and unscientific landfills to various centers of informal and formal recycling.

By reducing the amount of wasted material, waste pickers – who do this as their only source of daily income – actually contribute to saving resources, and should be formalized and supported by municipal and corporate institutions to improve the overall waste value chain.

Used Beverage Cartons (UBCs) are a category of recyclable material that waste pickers deal with, but in the absence of a meaningful value chain and fair market rates – unlike PET bottles, cardboards, glass, etc – the UBCs rarely leave the landfills.

A city like Dehradun alone generates more than 350 Metric Tons (MT) of UBCs every year. Due to the lack of a value-chain for its collection and recycling, all UBCs either go to trenching grounds, or are littered and burned, or are mixed and sold with lower-value waste categories. This further burdens landfills and downgrades the potential for higher rates of recycling.

If this waste category is collected, baled, and transported for recycling, UBCs have a great potential to be converted usable products, including long-lasting furniture, pen holders, diaries, frames, and other durable products.

Hence, to fill this gap and build a value-chain for the collection and recycling of UBCs, Tetra Pak India and Waste Warriors have partnered to implement such an initiative in Dehradun.

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Solid Waste Context

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No Poverty: Earlier, the collection of Used Beverage Cartons (UBCs) was very minimal but through this program we are engaging waste pickers, scrap dealers and aggregators to collect and sell these cartons directly to our MRF, leading to a source of income for them that supplements their daily earnings.

Sustainable Cities & Communities: The collection & recycling of UBCs have resulted in diverting the waste of cartons from landfills to an authorized recycling facility. Our efforts are promoting participation from both waste picker communities and also residential communities in housing colonies. This level of community awareness and engagement is a vital step towards promoting sustainability amongst the general public.

Responsible Consumption & Production: This program is a combination of responsible consumption by consumers and aggregation and rercycling initiatives by Tetra Pak, and through our community outreach and awareness-raising sessions, we are building this sense of eco-consciousness and connsumer responsibility amongst Dehradun citizens, who are becoming aware that these used cartons can be recycled.

Climate Change: We are working towards a paradigm shift from garbage to resource for all recyclables considered as waste by the public. When this waste is sent to overflowing landfills, or are being dumped and burned, the pollution causes harmful toxins to be released into the air. Through our behavioral change efforts on segregation and disposal habits, we are working towards making communities aware of the effects of burning or dumping of these cartons on their health and the environment. This mitigation efforts are necessary to reduce the overall air pollution levels in the city.

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Working Towards The UN SDGs

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Survey Location Distribution

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1p5MzGxmHeISSC2QMPKKIkQXQmnpIKqGk&ll=30.344891615911678%2C78.03304514257809&z=11 here is the map.

Our team conducted a baseline survey of waste pickers in Dehradun and nearby cities and municipalities like Mussoorie, and Doiwala. The survey was done with a sample size of 82 respondents majorly from Dehradun, and covered 13 prominent clusters of waste picker communities.

We have onboarded waste pickers from 5 of these locations for the collection of UBCs.

Waste Picker Locations CountAzad Colony 1Chuna Bhatta 2Kabadi Bazar, Kargi Chowk* 2Doiwala* 3Lakhibagh 3Near IT Park 3Kath Bangla Basti 4Khurbura mohalla 4Mussoorie* 5Nayagaon* 5Bindal 8Kanwali road 17Madrasi colony* 25Total 82

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*We have onboarded waste picker’s in these location for collection of UBCs.

Inference: In the surveyed areas, waste picking is majorly done by women. They contribute more than 80% in this sector. With this in mind, we can orient our program towards women empowerment and skill development for them.

Inference: To obtain the occupational identity cards is the right of waste pickers and have to be given under the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act 2008 and the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016. Among 82 respondents, 72 of the waste pickers are not registered with any formal institution. Hence, we must work with the authorities to streamline waste pickers into the formal channel of recycling by providing them support towards their right to obtain an ID card for working as a waste picker.

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Baseline Survey Results

Gender DistributionMale 5

Female 77Total 82

Availability of ID CardsYes 10No 72

Total 82

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Inference: UBCs have no market value in Dehradun and nearby cities as a separate category of recyclable waste. Hence, a major chunk of this is either going to the landfills or garbage points or sold off in mixed form with cardboard/millboard.

Inference: More than 60% of respondents say they do not collect UBCs due to a lack of market value. Hence, to create the reverse logistics for UBCs it is essential to onboard waste pickers and aggregators with a fair rate against the collected cartons.

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Knowledge of UBCs as Recyclable Waste?Yes 1No 81

Total 82

Collection of UBCs?Yes 32No 50

Total 82

Baseline Survey Results

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Inference: All waste categories that have fair rates in the recyclables market are collected by the waste pickers, items which eventually become part of formal recycling industry.

Hence, if the right awareness for the collection of UBCs is raised among the waste pickers with fair rates in the market, then like any other high-value category of recyclables, UBCs can be made part of recycling channel in any municipality.

Inference: 80% of waste pickers expressed their interest to collect UBCs, but they also mentioned issues like storage of large volumes of these cartons as constraints for collecting these cartons. Most waste pickers claim they sell their waste to the nearest scrap dealer on their way after waste picking. Hence, this channel for the collection of UBCs is not very reliable to meet tonnage targets. With our experience of collection of UBCs from waste pickers, we found that those communities of waste pickers who themselves collect, further sort & store the waste are the most consistent and reliable sources for the collection of UBCs.

Interest to Collect UBCs if Fair Rates Are Given

Yes 66

No 2

Maybe 14

Total 82

Waste Categories Collected by Waste Pickers

Plastic 100%Cardboard 99%

Glass 98%Paper 98%

E-Waste 98%Millboard 96%

Tetra Pak Cartons 39%MLP 0%

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Baseline Survey Results

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Based on the results of our baseline survey of 82 respondents in waste picker communities, we can conclude some of the following actions and solutions that are required:

1. This survey has helped us recognize and identify individuals and communities engaged in waste picking, and has been helpful to build channels for the collection of UBCs and to onboard waste pickers into this initiative with Tetra Pak.

2. The survey has assisted us in identifying the gaps in the waste value chain before organizing the awareness workshops for the collection of UBCs.

3. This program has a great potential to divert uncollected UBC waste away from trenching grounds and landfills, and also to increase daily incomes for waste pickers.

4. Since waste picking as an informal source of income is primarily conducted by women, at more than 80% of the respondents, it is important that we keep their upliftment, health and safety, and skill development as our priorities for social impact while running our initiatives.

5. For program onboarding, we have experienced that waste pickers or community of waste pickers who themselves collect, further sort, and store their recyclables are the potential sources to collect UBCs in large quantity. On the contrary waste pickers who collect and sell recyclables on everyday basis were not able to provide or sell UBCs to get higher margins.

6. Lack of formal ID cards as a waste pickers implies that there is huge scope to formalize them through municipal systems, with potential to collaborate with Nagar Nigam Dehradun on this front.

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Survey Conclusions

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1. To onboard aggregators to sell UBCs: In Dehradun, very few waste pickers and scrap dealers collect or trade used beverage cartons and those who do collect it mix and sell it to aggregators with cardboard and millboard. When we approached the aggregators and asked to provide us the segregated UBCs, they stated that the high cost of segregating UBCs was a constraint for selling these to our team. Moreover, the price that we were quoting was also either less or at par with the cost they are getting for cardboard and millboard in the market.

2. To onboard waste pickers and scrap dealers: Due to the large volume of UBCs required, waste pickers and scrap dealers were not very interested to pick up and store these cartons for direct selling to our material recovery facility.

3. To create a market for buying UBCs: Since UBC was not an existing category of recyclable waste in the current market, we initially faced a challenge to convince the waste pickers and aggregators for the collection and storage of UBCs to sell to us.

4. To meet the tonnage target: In the initial months of the program, we faced an intense challenge to meet the monthly tonnage targets, and moreover with the persistent COVID situation the consumption of beverage cartons was also very low. Other high footfall areas like malls, cinema halls, and market areas also remained closed for very long periods. All this hampered our IEC activities and ultimately the collection rates suffered.

5. To bring about behavioural change: To effectively get waste pickers to shift their behavior and adapt to any new system or new category of waste was a challenge. But what helped our program was the continuous engagement and interaction and by approaching the head of any waste picker community.

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Program Challenges

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dehradun@wastewarriors.org

@wastewarriors1

www.wastewarriors.org

+91 78952 67144

Office Address:

Waste Warriors Society

136/2/2 Shivam Vihar,

Jakhan, Rajpur Road,

Dehradun, Uttarakhand - 248001

Waste Warriors is registered under the Indian Societies Act 1860 - 243/2012-2013Registered Address: 24 Pritam Road, Dalanwala, Dehradun, 248001

Supported By: Implemented By:

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