EVEN rubbish is getting into the so-called gig economy. A website matches waste-pickers in Bangalore, India, with residents who need their trash taken away.
Waste-pickers earn a couple of dollars a day sorting through the city's overflowing landfills, looking for paper or plastic to sell to recycling centres. It's hard, dirty work, but it's estimated that 1.5 million people in India make their living this way.
I Got Garbage is an online tool designed to help waste-pickers better connect with households and offices that need their trash picked up. Those looking for trash collection sign up with their contact information, which is passed on to local groups of waste-pickers and non-profits that work with them. For pickers, the site also has a map of collection centres and the types of scrap they accept.
The site was started by Mindtree, an information technology firm based in Bangalore, in an effort to bolster the livelihood of local waste-pickers. The firm also hopes the programme will reduce India's excess garbage – a side effect of overcrowding and poor waste management practices.
Around the country, other groups are trying to support waste-pickers. For example, in Pune, a city in western India, pickers have formed a cooperative
This article appeared in print under the headline "Waste-pickers' tool pinpoints people with useful trash"
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