Story of Shailender Kumar- Plastic Waste Reprocessor (Recycler), in His Own Voice

Notes from Nayandahalli

I am from Bihar, came to Bangalore in 1990 with my brother, when I was 5 years old. Today I am 26 years old. I have graduated in Commerce, from Bangalore University. I am married with one child. Earlier I worked at a Ration Shop.

I started the godown (for aggregating and sorting plastic)/ factory (for reprocessing plastic waste and make yarn out of it) about four years ago. My starting investment was about INR 5 Lakh and I gave one lakh in advance.

The size of my godown/factory is about 30/40 square feet. I collect Grade A quality plastics from different factories (generated as waste), bring it my godown and segregate it, and then put it in machine to make yarn and sell it back to the factories that make plastic chairs, water drums, water pipes, carry bags, hand cover, suitcases, nursery covers , Syntax drums and other items.  I go about six to seven times for collection in a month. And collect about eight to nine tons of plastic (waste) during that time.

There are two types of yarn that we make 1^st quality and 2^nd quality. It is filtered to make plastic items. Per month, we segregate between six-seven tons of plastic. Per day it will amount to 300-350 kilograms of plastic for re-processing.  I run the machine weekly two or three times, depending on the load.

After I send the yarn to the factory, they test it for quality, before paying me. On an average month, I send 10 loads of yarn to different factories located in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and I decide my selling price for the yarn. However, the market is not stable and rates fluctuate severely.

I have eight people under me. For men, I pay Rs. 300 per day and for the women I pay about Rs. 220 per day. I also provide lunch, coffee/tea and bonus once a year. I also give them advance as and when they ask.

The post here is a part of the Notes from Nayandahalli series and is a reflection of an ongoing study supported by Indian Institute for Human Settlements and WIPRO. You can find the previous posts here… Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6 and Post 7.

Interviewer: Usha

Transcribed by Usha  and Pinky Chandran

Audio interview edited by Usha