Occupational Health Hazards Among Rag Pickers

India’s booming urbanization brings the problem of waste management. The amount of waste is increasing at a high pace and waste management is likely to become a critical issue in the coming years.
Rag pickers play an important, but usually unrecognised role in the waste management system of Indian cities. They collect garbage in search of recyclable items that can be sold to scrap merchant (paper, plastic, tin...). This activity require no skills and is a source of income for a growing number of urban poor. There are two types of scrap-collectors: the rag pickers, mostly women, who collect garbage on dumping grounds, in residential areas or in street bins, and the itinerant buyers who purchase scrap directly from households, offices and shops. Most of the itinerant buyers are male and they typically require a certain amount of capital to purchase scrap.
Most of the rag pickers are not independent but work for middlemen or contractors who purchase segregated rag from them on pre-decided rates. Waste picking is rarely recognized or integrated in the official Waste Management System despite its large contribution to it. According to the NGO Chintan, rag pickers “are unrecognized and have almost no rights to work, despite the fact that they save almost 14% of the municipal budget annually.
Mumbai generates waste of approximately 7,025 tonns per day. The management of waste in the city comes under the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The prevailing approach is that of collection of garbage from the communities by the municipal authorities and disposing it off at the three main dumping sites that are currently servicing the city.
Deonar is the largest dumping ground in Mumbai. It starts from the Deonar creek and ends at Baba Nagar. For years Deonar has been the largest garbage bin for the entire Mumbai city and today is also is a home for thousands of migrants who live in very hard conditions, lacking even the most basic amenities and earning their living on the dumping ground.
Need of the study
In under-developed regions of the world, where formal waste management systems are nascent or non-existent, waste pickers take on the work of collecting and sorting recyclable material as a means of survival (Dias, 2000). Waste pickers are characteristically poor, homeless, socially disadvantaged and are at continual risk for a myriad of health concerns.
Rag picking is probably one of the most dangerous and dehumanizing activity in India. There are genuine reasons why rag picking is considered one of the worst forms of labor. The risks related to the rag pickers health and physical development, as well as the hindrance this work places on their education and psychological development, make rag picking a particularly adverse occupation for children. Child rag pickers are working in filthy environments, surrounded by crows or dogs under any weather conditions and have to search through hazardous waste without gloves or shoes. They often eat the filthy food remnants they find in the garbage bins or in the dumping ground. Using the dumping ground as a playing field the children run the risk to come upon needles, syringes, used condoms, saline bottles, soiled gloves and other hospital wastes as well as ample of plastic and iron items. They suffer from many diseases, such as respiratory problems, worms, anemia, fever and other problems which include cuts, rashes, dog bites. The major risk factor involved in this job is the health related risk. As they have to be in prolonged exposure of dirty, rotten, and unhygienic organic and inorganic wastes they are more vulnerable to diseases like diarrhea, respiratory disease, and frequent fever.
Previous studies have indicated that a relationship exists between solid waste handling and increased health risk. Studies of waste pickers in countries such as India and Nepal have identified waste pickers as a high-risk group for poor individual and public health. Health surveys show that their health status is poor and their life expectancy falls far below national averages. The risk is greatest in developing countries, where the contact between the solid waste worker and waste is greatest and the level of protection is least. Based on health studies of waste pickers conducted in Bangalore, Manohar and New Delhi, tuberculosis, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, dysentery, parasites and malnutrition are the most common diseases among waste pickers. (Cointreau-Levine,1998)

Objectives of the study
 To understand the socio-economic and demographic profile of rag pickers.
 To examine the occupational health hazards experienced by them.
 To examine the health seeking behaviour and expenditure (in case if there are organization intervening, can we take frequency of visiting doctors) on it.

References
Cointreau-Levine, S. (1998) .Solid Waste,. in J.A. Herzstein, W.B. Burn, and L.E. Fleming Eds.) International Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Mosby Inc.: St. Louis 620-630.

Dias, S. M. (2000). Integrating Waste Pickers for Sustainable Recycling. Superintendency of Public
Cleansing. Presented at CWG Workshop, “Planning for Sustainable and Integrated Solid
Waste Management” 18-21 September, 2000. Manila, The Philippines. Retrieved on
February 3, 2009 from: www.chintan-india.org/others/brazil_recyc.doc Waste Pickers without Frontiers (2008). Report of Conference Proceedings. First International and
Third Latin American Conference of Waste-Pickers. Bogotá, Colombia 1-4 March 2008.

References: Cointreau-Levine, S. (1998) .Solid Waste,. in J.A. Herzstein, W.B. Burn, and L.E. Fleming Eds.) International Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Mosby Inc.: St. Louis 620-630. Dias, S. M. (2000). Integrating Waste Pickers for Sustainable Recycling. Superintendency of Public Cleansing. Presented at CWG Workshop, “Planning for Sustainable and Integrated Solid Waste Management” 18-21 September, 2000. Manila, The Philippines. Retrieved on February 3, 2009 from: www.chintan-india.org/others/brazil_recyc.doc Waste Pickers without Frontiers (2008). Report of Conference Proceedings. First International and Third Latin American Conference of Waste-Pickers. Bogotá, Colombia 1-4 March 2008.