Role of rag pickers in solid waste management: a case study of Mirzapur, U.P

Due to drastic and rapid growth in the utilisation of resources, the time is right for the proper management of discarded material to reduce undesirable effects on human health and the environment. The characterisation and quantification of solid waste were greatly influenced by nearby communities and their economic status, while their sorting from primary collection points to dumpsites has been accomplished by other communities; rag pickers in most of the places. This task by these communities plays a crucial role in reducing the amount of recyclable and reusable material sent to land fill. This paper demonstrates the role of rag pickers in the management of solid waste, their socio economical status, and the effects on their health due to frugal management systems in Mirzapur, a known town of Uttar Pradesh in India. This paper also looks at the services provided by the government to this community and the existing legislation in hidden management practices. With a good future prospective, the socio-economic development management (SEDM) image has been sketched in this study, which gives the platform for decision makers to extract good and valuable information.