Author: Erin X. Wong
Eighteen years ago, discarded plastic was common on the streets of Bengaluru, India. Strong winds carried loose plastic bottles and packaging, which piled up in drains after the rain. Indumathi, who uses only her given name, remembers the scene well, because back then, she tried to collect as much plastic as she could, searching behind bushes, climbing into drains, or waking up at 4 a.m. to check trash heaps before they were burned. She sold what she could to small-scale recyclers, braving an unpredictable income before eventually starting to work at a scrap shop full time.