One man's trash, another man's gold
Small collectors of discarded, recyclable items are seeing an increase in their income due to the growing demand for material that can be recycled.
“One of the pros of import limitation is that people get used to reusing and recycling,” said Ramaiah Ranjani (42) from Moratuwa who collects discarded items.
She offers Rs45 per kilo for discarded fertiliser/plastic gunny bags, Rs80 for a kilo of papers, Rs70 for one kilo of steel, Rs150 for a kilo of aluminum, and Rs35 for a kilo of cardboard.
“The items are purchased by recycling companies, and when compared with several years ago, the business of collecting discarded items is growing,” she said adding that this has also resulted in the increase of drug addicts attempting to sell items, in some cases stolen goods.
“People needs to stay vigilant,” she warned.
S Gurunathan (44) from Dehiwala was forced to sell his three-wheeler during the Covid-19 lockdown and now has settled to collection and re-selling of recyclable items. “This business has a potential,” he said.
An operations manager at a plastic recycling plant in the Gampaha District said that during the pandemic lockdowns, there was no household or commercial disposal of plastic.
“We were incurring losses from 2020 and now the recycling business is slowly picking up. From the recycled plastic, we are manufacturing helmets and pohora bags,” he said.
Director General of the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), Hemantha Jayasinghe, said though the collection of discarded and recyclable items can be a good self-employment opportunity, they should register with the CEA to differentiate from informal collectors.
“It is important to ensure proper collection, storage, and disposal if rejected by recyclers. The real benefits of recycling can be reaped only if it is done with minimal impact to the environment,” he said.