Exploring the prospects of integrating informal sector ins solid waste management: An empirical study of Nagar Nigam Dehradun Uttrakhand
- Nagarlok: Quarterly Journal of Urban Affairs
- 56(3), Sep, 2024: p.349-363
The informal sector of waste collection has a key role in the social and economic upliftment of waste workers and the improvement of waste recycling and management. Though integration of the informal sector in waste management is now recognised in government policies like SWM Rules-2016, it is yet to be implemented in many states. This paper is based on a case study that examined the integration of the informal sector in solid waste management at Nagar Nigam Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The analysis is constructed on the field survey with waste pickers, scrap buyers, households, and inputs from the staff and public councillors in Nagar Nigam Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Based on the experiences of waste pickers residing in the ward areas of Nagar Nigam Dehradun, the paper focuses on three areas: first, challenges faced by them, second, strategies, if any, adopted by the Nagar Nigam Dehradun (NND) to integrate them into the formal structure of waste management, and third, it focuses on the opportunities that can be tapped by their integration. The researchers find that their integration has multiple opportunities such as improvement in existing waste management, gender equality, abolition of child labour, financial inclusion and fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).- Reproduced