Vulnerability assessment of informal waste workers in India and its implications towards sustainable waste management policy

Abstract

India’s informal waste sector (IWS), embedded in the shadows of urban metabolism, remains vital yet systematically marginalised. Despite the sector’s unprecedented contribution to the circular economy and resource recovery, it is highly vulnerable to socio-economic challenges and occupational marginalisation. This research presents a comprehensive vulnerability assessment across four strategically selected Indian cities – Nagpur, Mumbai, Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar – chosen to reflect geographical and infrastructural diversity. Primary data were collected through surveys and stakeholder interviews. The analysis focused on key parameters including age, wage levels, gender distribution, working hours and the use of personal protective equipment. Based on these indicators, a weighted vulnerability index (WVI) was developed through normalisation and expert-informed weight allocation, enabling the quantification of socio-economic and occupational risks in the study areas. To strengthen the robustness of the findings, the WVI results were also cross-validated using the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) technique of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). Both approaches converged in identifying Muzaffarnagar as the most vulnerable (WVI score = 0.71; TOPSIS closeness coefficient (CC) = 0.535) and Mumbai as the least vulnerable (WVI = 0.25; TOPSIS CC = 0.666), with only minor differences in the relative ordering of Nagpur and Ghaziabad. The study thus offers a transferable methodological framework that combines expert-driven weighting with MCDA validation, providing important insights into the precarious working conditions of IWS. The findings underscore the urgent need to integrate informal waste management into formal governance structures through inclusive, rights-based and spatially contextualised policy interventions.