Hands in the heap: Those who sort Delhi’s waste

A torn packet of chips, an empty milk pouch, a crumpled detergent wrapper and a sticky toffee cover — the everyday remains of a Delhi household — lie tangled together in a white sack the size of a person. Nargis Bi unties the mouth of the bag and tips it over to a plot of land in northwest Delhi’s Bhalswa Diary, lined with such sacks. A sour smell rises. Without gloves or a mask, she reaches in.

At over 60, one of Nargis’s core memories is sitting on a wooden cart on the back of her father’s bicycle as he rode through the lanes of Pitampura and Shalimar Bagh, collecting plastic, glass bottles empty of liquor, tins and discarded cartons. She was 8 then.