Dharavi Is Not Just A Slum, It’s A Thriving Hub Of Industry

Earthen pots made by Kumbhar community at Dharavi (Credit: Hitesh Mahawar)

Spread across almost 550 acres of land, and home to around 1 million people (50–60% labourers), Dharavi is one of the largest and oldest informal urban settlements of the world. It has developed over the 150 years from an island on a swampy and unused patch of land, to a much-discussed area at the heart of Mumbai.

Dharavi is a hub for small-scale industries (unorganized sectors such as leather industry, waste recycling industry, etc), and exports goods across the globe with an estimated annual turnover of around $ 1 billion. It has approximately 5,000 business entities, with 15,000 in-house single-room factories for production. Generally, people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Gujarat come to work in these industries.

According to residents of Dharavi, 60% of Mumbai’s segregated waste comes to Dharavi for processing; indicating the vital role of waste recycling and processing units of Dharavi in maintaining and managing Mumbai’s solid waste management landscape. They are not only managing the waste, but they are making big money out of it and generating employment as well. Dharavi is home to some 30,000 rag pickers — scavengers who find and sort recyclable scraps from the city’s garbage dumps.

Small-Scale Industries/Factories

1) Leather industries:

It is the most prominent industry, with the highest share of turnover among all industries in Dharavi. Large profit margins are involved in these industries, attracting young entrepreneurs. Most of these units make use of animal skin (mainly Sheep, Goat, and Buffalo) collected from slaughter houses for processing into leather. Animal skin is washed in a washing machine (made up of wood) with a large capacity, and then cut into the desired length.

After the cutting process, the leather piece is put into the pressing machine with the desired pattern and design. Semi-finished leather pieces, after pressing, are made into the final products, such as belt, purse, wallet, etc. These products are then exported to foreign brands in very large amounts.

2) Plastic recycling industries:

This industry has three phases in the recycling process. Mixed plastic waste is segregated and sorted on the…