A mobile app to help find your nearest scrap dealer
CHENNAI: In a bid to make source segregation of waste easier for households, a group of youngsters plans to create an app that shows the kabadiwallas, or scrap dealers, present in various parts of the city. Residents can then use the app to find a scrap dealer in their area who would visit their house and pick up recyclable waste.Kabadiwallas traditionally visit houses to buy recyclable waste like paper, plastic bags, plastic bottles, glass bottles, thermocol boards and cardboard boxes. "Kabadiwallas have been in the business for generations, so they know how to pick out items that can be reused, including electronic and metallic waste," says Siddharth Hande, from Global Shapers Community, which will launch the mobile app along with Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering's eco-club.
However, many households, especially those with non-Tamilians who've recently moved to the city, neither know the existence of these kabadiwallas nor ways to contact them. "The kabadiwallas usually ride their bicycles along the road shouting 'paper,' 'bottle' or 'clothes' to announce their arrival. Those new to the city don't know that it's the scrap dealer's call," says Hande.
The app will initially be available only on the Android platform. Hande explains that the app will zero-in on the resident's current location through GPS or mobile SIM tracking and then display the kabadiwallas nearest to the resident. When you click on a particular scrap dealer, it will also list details like the shop's address, contact number, the types of waste the dealer buys and the price per kg that he pays for it.
Around 14 members from Global Shapers Community and 400 students from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering will go to 40 parts of the city and identify the kabadiwallas in each area, take their picture and note down other details like their address and number so that it can be uploaded on the app. Hande expects this mapping to be completed by the end of February.
The mappers hope that this exercise will also make Corporation of Chennai realise that there is a sizeable scrap dealer community in the city and show that recognising them and including them in our solid waste management system will be beneficial. "They are almost invisible or non-existent in the corporation's eyes right now. They're often even looked as miscreants," says V Srinivasan, an activist who recently took up the cause of ragpickers. They also collect recyclables from garbage bins and sell them for a living.
We did this project and enjoyed the overall experience of interacting with the scrap dealer community.We found their locations and updated their details in the mobile app!
-Agarshna Murari M
