2. SURVEY PROCEDURE In order to get a clear picture of the waste paper and plastic recycling activities, a field survey was conducted all over the Khulna city. It was observed that many individual waste collectors, recyclable dealers and recycling industries (RI) were practicing recycling activity in Khulna. From the survey, it was found that recycling dealers or industries were available only in some areas, namely Shiromoni, Fulbarigate, Daulatpur, Khalishpur, Shekhpara, Sonadanga, Gollamari and Lobonchora. Therefore, all these areas where recycling activities were going on, were selected. Different sets of questionnaires were designed for waste collectors, dealers and the employees of RI to obtain information about the ongoing waste recycling system. Sixty waste collectors of different ages (12 to 50 years) were selected from all over the study area to take the interview. The number of waste papers and plastics collected in one day by each of them were weighed. Information about their living place, mode of transportation and working conditions was also obtained from the questionnaire survey. All the dealers were surveyed in this study and most of them participated in the interview. The quantity of waste collection, the buying and selling prices were collected from the record book of each of the dealers. The information about the source of their collection and selling place was obtained from the questionnaire survey. The study used surveys about the employees working in the recycling industry in order to get information concerning problems, prospects, patterns and the quantity of recycling in real-life situations. The number of RI that are producing recycled materials from the processed waste was determined by the field survey. Each of these RI was surveyed in this study. The quantities of recycled products from waste paper or plastic were obtained from the record book of recycling industries. Information about the prices of RSW was also obtained from the questionnaire survey.
The various groups of the informal sector such as waste collectors, dealers and some RI who do not receive any funding from the government are practicing recycling activities in an unorganized and unplanned way as a source of their income. The informal sector recycling is described as follows.
(a) Sources: Households, institutes, market places are the primary source of waste paper and plastic in Khulna. People are using plastic and paper products for different purposes of their daily life. Waste papers and plastics have economic value. Some portion of these wastes are separated by some people at primary source for sale.
(b) Waste collectors: The waste collectors are the first link in a long chain of recycling. They are visible in every community of the city and come from nearby slums. This group comprises of men, women and children. Waste collectors are categorized into two groups: House to house waste collectors (usually men and women; locally known as feriwala) and waste bin collectors (usually children; both sexes, age below 15 years; locally referred to as tokai). Generally, tokais collect old paper and plastic products from the mixed waste dumped in the waste bin, disposal site and roadside. They carry the separated waste in a plastic bag and sell it to the dealers at different prices depending on the type and quality of the waste. They never use gloves and work in unhygienic conditions. This job is identified as the main source of their livelihood. During rainy season, their collection quantity is very little. Feriwalas, on the other hand, buy the separated waste paper and plastic items stored for selling in homes and institutions as shown in Figure 1(b). They purchase recyclable wastes which are not contaminated by mixing with biodegradable waste in exchange for money or gifts and sell those materials to the dealers at a small profit. The total number of waste collectors in Khulna city is 2000 (1305 tokai and 695 feriwala).
(c) Dealers: Recycle dealers are the second link in the chain of recycling. They are categorized into three broad groups on the basis of the quantity of waste collection according to Moniruzzaman et al., 2011 as follows. (1) Small Scale Recycling Dealers (SSRD): their collection of RSW is less than 250 kg/day on average, (2) Medium Scale Recycling Dealers (MSRD): RSW collection by each MSRD is within a range between 250 kg/day to 600 kg/day on average and (3) Large Scale Recycling Dealers (LSRD): On an average, the amount of RSW collection by each LSRD is greater than 600 kg/day. The SSRD purchase recyclable waste from waste collectors’. They sort, clean and sell the processed wastes to the MSRD. The MSRD purchase waste paper or plastic from different SSRD, accumulate the processed waste and sell those to LSRD. The LSRD collects waste from all MSRD, accumulates and sells it to recycling industries (RI).
(d) Recycling Industries (RI): Final destination of the materials collected by different actors starting from feriwalas, tokais comes to RI through a chain of dealers like SSRD, MSRD and LSRD. The RI recycle the processed waste and finally sell it to market.