The Indian men who make money selling trash.

Pedro_P

▼ "Weekends are the busiest," says Govind, surrounded by piles of trash, on a recent Sunday afternoon.
The 34-year-old, who prefers to go by his first name only, is standing in the middle of a scrapyard that he and his brother own in Gurgaon, a dusty suburb of glass and concrete near Delhi.
On his left are gunny bags bursting with paper. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face stares up from a stack of newspapers, and a hefty guide to the "Principles of Corporate Finance" lies on the ground. Then comes a mound of glass, plastic, metal and more - a quick glance throws up a can of Lacoste deodorant, plastic bottles of Coca-Cola's Glaceau Smartwater, a brown suitcase and a few bicycles.
This is Shiv Scrap Dealers, owned by Govind and his brother, Joginder, seasoned purveyors of trash: for more than 10 years, they have been sifting through what other people discard to extract every last bit of value from it.
"The trash has changed over the years," says 48-year-old Joginder, who was the first to start collecting scrap. "Everything is lighter, there is a lot more plastic than before and silver has replaced copper wiring, which is more valuable."
He says they used to make about 50,000 rupees ($700; £560) a month on average, but their profits have nearly halved in recent years.
The yard shares a wall with an apartment building and leafy trees block the sun. Sheets of corrugated metal serve as a roof to protect paper and cardboard. Everything else lies under an open sky.
Since both brothers spend so much time here, there is a stove in the corner where they can make tea, and a bed where they take a quick nap or sleep when they stay the night. Joginder says they take turns to guard the scrap. He explains, with a touch of pride, that all of this - leftovers from other people's lives - is worth thousands of dollars, a fortune in India.
Scrap dealers - or what Indians call kabadiwalas or raddiwalas - are at the heart of the country's largely informal but robust recycling industry.
Most Indian cities do not collect waste door-to-door or even segregate it, says Roshan Miranda, founder of Waste Ventures, a waste management company.
But Indians are generating more waste than ever as processed food takes over kitchens, (▪ ▪ ▪)

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