From waste picker to entrepreneur, she has come a long way

She was a 10-year-old girl when she started following her grandmother as she picked up waste from the city’s streets.

Thirty years later, Annamma has established herself as an entrepreneur in the very sector that her grandmother eked out a living.

She has become the first waste picker to buy a truck for door-to-door collection of dry waste in the city, and is already looking to purchase a second vehicle in the near future.

For somebody who was still picking waste from the streets even in 2013, Annamma’s rise is nothing less than phenomenal.

“When the civic body wanted waste pickers to start manning dry waste collection centres (DWCC), I was not confident to take up the task. I lived in a hut with no electricity and had saved Rs. 50,000 to build a house. But I invested the money and started a DWCC. This centre has grown into a business today,” she said, beaming with pride.

She has been running the DWCC for ward 101, Kamakshipalya for four years now, and it’s a far cry from her earlier life. Money was scarce when she used to scrounge the streets for waste. But at the DWCC, she now deals with nearly two tonnes of dry waste every day.

House of her own

She was able to take a loan to build a three bedroom house in Ullal Upanagar, where her hut once stood.

“My daughters used to read sitting under a street light or read all night on the new moon day, as there was no electricity. Today they have a study room,” said Annamma.

In a recent move, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has given the responsibility of door-step collection of dry waste twice a week to DWCCs mostly run by former waste pickers in their respective wards. This entails expansion of DWCC operations and capital investments on vehicle and men.

Annamma, who is one of the more successful people in the sector, acted decisively and purchased a truck start door-step collection of waste.

“I don’t know how to read or write. But I am good at Math because of the business that I run.

“These are tough times as the prices for plastic and paper waste have fallen. So the only way to survive is to increase the volume which is what I expect will happen with door-step collection,” Annamma explained her strategy.

Nalini Shekhar of the NGO Hasirudala, who has been working with Annamma for the past four years, said that it is a challenge for people like Annamma to become entrepreneurs as the waste sector run by former ragpickers is not being considered as an industry by banks.

“For the truck Annamma has gone for a vehicle loan with 18% interest, which we are looking to be taken over by some institution with a lower interest rate,” she said.

Annamma is worried about the cost of expansion and the need to hire more people.

“We presently need six men to run the show. But we have employed only four as my husband and I, work in the centre saving us the cost of two men,” she said.