Near Bhalswa landfill in Delhi, Seema grips a large white sack on her shoulder, scanning the shrinking edges of the dump where she once gathered plastic and metal to sustain her family. “They chase us away as if we are the ones polluting, not picking up waste,” said the 52-year-old.

For decades, Ms. Seema collected over 50 kg of recyclables daily; today, she barely gathers 20 kg. As Delhi struggles to cope with rising waste, its 1.5 lakh waste pickers recycle an estimated 2,000 tonnes of paper, plastic, metals, and glass every day, diverting nearly a third of the city’s waste from three overfilled landfills.

According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), of the 11,300 tonnes of unsorted waste generated daily, 7,000 are sent to four waste-to-energy plants. The rest is salvaged mos

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