Trash Disposing and Collecting

There are several ways to dispose of your garbage in India.  There is a lady who comes by and for a few rupees each month, if you have it sitting out beside the house early in the morning, she will take it.  The house helpers come three times a week and they will dispose of the trash if you remind them to do so.  The other option is that when it is just too stinky (like you have two diaper wearers in the house) and is piling up, you take it for disposal yourself.  I was there for a couple of weeks before I discovered that no matter how it is taken from the house, it all goes to the same place.  It goes to the trash pile at the corner of the street.

There are a few ways that the trash pile diminishes, as well.  There are people who make their living from the trash pile.  They might bring an old fashioned bicycle-type rickshaw with a cart on the back and wade into the pile picking up scraps of paper and shaking them off before adding them to their pile to be recycled.  There are trucks that come by periodically, too.  The men (sometimes family) scoop the garbage up with their hands and put it on the trash load they have collected.  I'm not sure if they receive pay to do this from someone or if they do it for the purpose of treasure hunting - expecting to make some sort of living from things they scavenge from the pile.  Cows and dogs eat it.  On occasion, someone living close by might burn it.  But never fear - the pile always comes back...quickly.

I am very surprised that in a place where feet and shoes are considered filthy - so much so that you would NEVER wear your shoes in a house and you would never touch someone with your feet - this eye sore would un-nerve them! 

There are people who are called "squatters" because they find an empty lot and take up residence there unbeknownst to the land owner who may no longer live in the area, or who may consider it to be a part of the alms they give to the poor.  Local people sometimes hire them to clean up empty lots and trash piles that are nearby.  It seemed to me that you could find squatters all over the city.  Tent cities could be found in just about any shaded or empty space - some beside transits or businesses or in residential areas.

One day I was watching a lady through our open window who appeared to be standing in front of a mirror getting ready for the day in a little cinderblock building behind the wall catty-corner from our house.  The lot was empty all but the cinderblock  building.  It was very small - one room about 8X8 or so, I think.  I had seen them there before but I honestly thought they were residents of the house that was in front of them and that the little building was used for worship, or something.  I asked Chase and he told me they were squatters.  They were living in the little building.  The trash pile was on their corner. 

It would be nothing to throw your wrapper or paper cup on the ground in India.  And yes, there is a terrible smell that comes from these trashpiles.  People have asked me what India smells like...not very pleasant.  The spices mixed with the dirt and trash and body odor is a smell of its own. 

India is trying to do something about their trash problem, I suppose.  They are now encouraging recycling.  Everyone has not bought into it.  I did, however, see a recycling station and was quite surprised by it.  Perhaps that is where the folks who come by with a truck take the garbage they pick up.  Another way recycling is done is the man whose voice is heard in the very early morning crying, "PEY-PA" very loudly.  He is calling for newpaper recycling which I don't know if he buys or if people donate it to him.

You would think that it was an urgent problem that the government would address.  Remember those folks who recycle the paper and the families that pick up trash?  They wouldn't have a way to make a few rupees if the government took ownership of the trash problem.  Also, seriously, there are so many stray dogs and cows roaming the city that eat from the garbage piles.  Where would they get food?


So where did we dump our trash?  Well, just let me say - when in Rome...