Community Collection and Co-processing of Mixed Plastics in New Delhi, India
This project partner buys mixed plastics that are difficult or impossible to recycle from waste pickers who
collect plastic from landfills, households, commercial buildings, and streets across India, and sends it to a licensed co-processing facility, where it’s used as an alternative fuel in a waste-to-energy recovery process.
Like many emerging markets, India lacks adequate waste management infrastructure. Many rivers are clogged with unmanaged plastic waste, which ultimately ends up in the ocean.
Plastic waste that ends up in landfills can leak back into nature. Often, landfill waste is burned in the open, causing greenhouse gases.
The project, which works with a network of aggregators across India, provides indirect employment to hundreds
of ‘rag pickers’ in the country’s large, informal waste collection sector. They aim to help eradicate poverty by providing regular, dignified work in an inclusive environment, empowering people to support themselves and their families, while working to eradicate plastic pollution.
Additional financing gained through credit sales goes towards expanding collection and ensuring participants at every part of the chain earn more, motivating them to collect more plastic waste - including low-value plastics that they might otherwise leave behind.
