Super efficient recycling in Mumbai

A survey of people around the world on their initial thoughts on India's largest city would probably include: overcrowding, pollution, rich vs. poor, slums, but perhaps no one would have said it s a leading city in recycling!  I would have been one of these people had I not witnessed several things whilst on a recent trip to Mumbai. 

I spent a week at our Mumbai office and on my first day, I opened half a dozen cardboard boxes which included new IT equipment. I removed the plastic shrink wrap from the equipment and left all other packaging material in the cardboard boxes. I then told the office cleaner that she could simply throw away the boxes. In all other countries I worked in and performed this mundane task, the boxes would have been flattened and disposed of. 

About 30 minutes later, to my surprise, the cleaner had started to separate all the different packaging material on the floor. She had separated the plastics from the styrofoam, the paper from the cardboard, the small metal wiring from the masking tape and the bubble wrap from the unused cables. I was amazed at how much packaging material was in these boxes in the first place. I then curiously asked her why she separated everything as I had not seen a single recycling bin in the office or in the streets. She told me she will get money for the items by taking them to a person who recycles these materials. That person is basically a middle-man who will then take these to a recycling processing centre. 

This is most likely to be Dharavi, Asia's largest slum which is home 1 million people and is located in downtown Mumbai overshadowed by luxury high rise towers. Several studies have indicated that up to 200,000 Dharavi residents make a living from recycling and work in 15,000 recycling related micro businesses. Of all the waste that Mumbai produces, 80% of it is recycled mostly in Dharavi. This has created an economy it its own right, hundreds of thousands of jobs  to some of the poorest residents an has even created rag to riches millionaires as a result. 

Almost all solid waste is recycled and recomposed into new products which are then sold back to the city and beyond. The cycle continues as on a daily basis and shows no sign of stopping. Perhaps we could all learn something as in many cities in the Middle East for example recycling is virtually non existent and waste is mostly incinerated. 

I am hoping to go on a guided tour of Dharavi on my next trip to Mumbai and will write a separate post with pictures.