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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World

A Day in the life of a Delhi waste picker

A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
Rajeev Kumar is 20 years old. He decided to come to Delhi around 5 years ago, as work in his village was impossible. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
For the last 4 years he has been working as a door-to-door waste collector Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
in an affluent residential area of the city. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
He works from 7.00 am to 2.30pm collecting waste and he covers around 150 homes a day. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
He earns around 3000 Rupees a month and since he left school at an early age, he is fortunate enough to make this type of living. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
Once Rajeev’s cart is full, he takes it to Kotla Prem-Nagar sorting station in South Delhi. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
This is one of several sorting stations where waste pickers bring their collections. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
The set rate for the various recyclables is: paper 2 Rupees a kilo; cardboard 3.50 Rupees a kilo; white paper is 4 Rupees a kilo, clear bottle is between 50 pence and 2 Rupees each and plastic bottles and metal cans are up to 7 Rupees each. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
and weighed, Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
under the watchful eye of Mr.Altab, the owner of the sorting station, who keeps a log in his book and pays according to the set rate. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
Mr Atlab makes around 1000 to 2000 Rupees a day. Rajeev makes around 200 Rupees a day. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
A day in the life of a Delhi waste picker
There are over 100,000 people working as waste pickers in the capital city of India. They help recycle between 9 to 15 percent of the solid waste produced by the city on a daily basis. This is substantial if one is to consider the fact that Delhi produces 7000 metric tones of solid waste a day. Photograph: Brijesh Patel/Guardian
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