While everyone else’s day starts in the morning, A Krishna, a ‘wasteprenuer’ starts his day at night. The 39-year-old is a third-generation waste picker who has transformed his life and that of his community — engaged in the same occupation — with innovation and in pursuit of dignity.
Krishna began his work life as a waste picker at a very young age, collecting waste from the streets during the night, which stretched almost to the next night.
Born into a family of traditional bone pickers who migrated from Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu, over 80 years ago, Krishna’s life was shaped by the harsh realities of caste-based discrimination, social stigma, and untouchability. Yet, through grit, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to dignity, he has transformed not only his own life but also the lives of thousands in Bengaluru’s waste-picking community, earning the title of “wastepreneur.”
Growing up on the streets of JC Road in Bengaluru’s Sudhama Nagar, Krishna began accompanying his mother, a waste picker, at the age of 14. While he spent his time in school in the mornings, evenings were dedicated to scouring and sorting the waste. The societal scorn he faced was relentless. A particular scarring memory haunts him: a group of men beat him for accidentally brushing a gunny bag against one of them, a stark reminder of the untouchability he endured. School offered no refuge either. When a classmate spotted him waste-picking and spread the word, Krishna’s friends shunned him, and his chair was relegated to the back of the classroom. For 150 days, he sat isolated, the weight of societal prejudice crushing his spirit. “It was an injury only I could treat,” Krishna recalls. “I decided I had to fight to prove we are the same as everyone else.”
rishna along with Samuhika Shakti and BBC Media Action also unveiled a unique business card made of recycled fabric.
That fight began with a quest for dignity and respect. At 15, Krishna grappled with the dilemma of whether to continue in the occupation that defined his family or seek another path. The lack of societal value for waste pickers fueled his resolve to redefine their identity. “We are the owners of waste. We give it life.” This belief led him to Ansalom Rozario, a social worker whose NGO introduced Krishna to a six-month training programme on rights, education, and the value of waste pickers. The training was transformative, instilling in him a sense of purpose and the tools to advocate for his community.
In 2011, Krishna’s efforts bore fruit when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) issued waste picker IDs for the first time in India, a landmark achievement that granted formal recognition on a par with the identity cards of BBMP’s chief commissioner, who is an IAS officer. That same year, he partnered with NGO’s like Waste Wise Trust and co-founded Hasiru Dala, a collective that now supports thousands of informal waste workers. His advocacy also reached the Karnataka High Court in 2016, which mandated the inclusion of waste pickers in dry waste management, further bolstering their role in the city’s waste ecosystem. Krishna’s vision extended beyond policy.
Krishna also pioneered innovative solutions, including the Waste Samaritan app, which he co-founded to monitor door-to-door waste collection and segregation. This was an outcome of his participation in a one-of-a-kind waste hackathon in 2016, where he submitted ideas for waste collection, segregation, and recycling. “I came up with the concept of waste segregation, which is separating dry waste and wet waste, when I was a kid. In 2002, I went door to door asking residents to segregate them in return for incentives like jugs, utensils, and other appliances. A method that I adopted way back in 2002 has come of age now,” says Krishna.
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Krishna’s most groundbreaking work lies in textile waste recycling, an area often overlooked in solid waste management. Around 2019, he collaborated with American students to address the tonnes of textile waste clogging Bengaluru’s landfills. Krishna went door-to-door, collecting discarded clothes, for reuse or recycling. His efforts led to the operations of textile collection and segregation in 16 dry waste collection units.
At the Textile Recovery Facility, set up by Samuhika Shakti, an informal waste picker collective, the discarded textiles are recycled and upcycled. As a result, it is transformed into mats, threads, and mops. “Textile waste is a massive problem. We’re building a foundation for recycling at the ground level,” he says. His goal is ambitious: to establish South India’s first dedicated textile recycling facility, inspired by the Panipat model in Haryana. The 16 textile collection centres engage close to about 60 people, mostly women who earn a daily wage of Rs 500.
Krishna, along with Samuhika Shakti and BBC Media Action, also unveiled a unique business card made of recycled fabric as part of their ongoing #Invaulables initiative. The card was launched under the ‘Got Old Clothes’ campaign which urges Bengalureans to responsibly discard their old clothes by sending the post-consumer textile waste to the waste pickers of Bengaluru. The initiative stems from the mounting textile waste that often ends up in landfills and builds on the critical role of waste pickers in diverting a massive 38,32,50,000 kg of waste from going to landfills every year.
Krishna, expressing his concern with the plastic ban, stated that it affected the livelihoods of over 4.25 lakh waste pickers in Karnataka, many of whom are illiterate women from socially deprived communities. Krishna’s response was to form Thyaga Samikara Sammikare in 2021, a union advocating for waste pickers’ rights and dignity. As vice-president of Thyajya Shramika Sangha and a key member of the Alliance of International Waste Pickers, he represented India’s waste pickers on global platforms, including countries like Nepal and Argentina, sharing the ‘Bengaluru model’ of inclusive waste management.
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Krishna’s personal life reflects his commitment to breaking the cycle of poverty. A father of three, he is determined to provide his children with education and opportunities to enter the waste management field scientifically, empowering them to give back to their community.
“I want them to come to this field, but with knowledge and pride,” he says. Despite systemic barriers, Krishna remains undeterred, advocating for a just transition for Karnataka’s waste pickers.
As Bengaluru grapples with mounting waste, Krishna advocates for civic responsibility and segregation at the source. “More people, more waste,” he notes. “We should have a collective responsibility not to discard waste anywhere and everywhere and follow the prescribed guidelines to manage waste. With this effort, we can turn waste into worth.”