– Mohamed Atherulla Shareef
While most of Bengaluru still sleeps, 39-year-old A Krishna is already hard at work — silently redefining the city’s approach to waste. Born into a lineage of bone pickers who migrated from Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu over 80 years ago, Krishna is no longer just a waste picker. He is a trailblazing entrepreneur, policy influencer, and tech innovator — a true “wastepreneur.”
Growing up in Sudhama Nagar on Bengaluru’s JC Road, Krishna started collecting garbage with his mother by the age of 14. The societal stigma he faced was harsh and deeply personal — from classmates alienating him to being beaten simply because his sack brushed against someone. These painful experiences planted a powerful determination in him: to restore dignity to waste pickers and assert their essential role in urban life.
At 15, Krishna made a bold decision not to escape the waste industry, but to elevate it. A training program by a local NGO on rights and the value of waste transformed his perspective. Equipped with knowledge and support, he began organizing fellow waste workers and demanding recognition.
In 2011, his efforts bore fruit when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) issued the city’s first official ID cards for waste pickers — a symbolic yet powerful acknowledgment of their civic role. That same year, Krishna co-founded Hasiru Dala, a collective supporting thousands of waste workers in the city. In 2016, he played a key role in a Karnataka High Court ruling that legally included waste pickers in the city’s dry waste management — a landmark win for informal labor.
Krishna’s transformation didn’t stop at activism. He turned to tech innovation, co-developing the Waste Samaritan app that streamlines tracking of waste collection and encourages segregation. His ideas, rooted in ground-level experiences from 2002, became part of the city’s digital waste solutions following a 2016 hackathon.
One of his most innovative ventures began in 2019: tackling textile waste. Partnering with American students, Krishna launched a project that collects old clothes and recycles them into products like mats, mops, and threads. Operated across 16 dry waste centers in Bengaluru, this initiative supports around 60 women workers, each earning ₹500 daily. The effort is part of the broader #Invaluables campaign, led with BBC Media Action and Samuhika Shakti, urging people to donate rather than dump old clothes. Their business card — made entirely from recycled fabric — symbolizes this message.
Krishna’s impact extends beyond India. As vice-president of Thyajya Shramika Sangha and a leader in the Alliance of International Waste Pickers, he has promoted the Bengaluru model in countries like Argentina and Nepal. In 2021, he helped establish Thyaga Samikara Sammikare, a union aimed at protecting waste pickers’ livelihoods amid challenges like the plastic ban, which has threatened over 4.25 lakh workers in Karnataka, most of them women from marginalized communities.
At the heart of Krishna’s journey lies a radical yet simple conviction: “We are the owners of waste. We give it life.” From social exclusion to international recognition, Krishna has not only transformed his own destiny but has also redefined dignity, sustainability, and innovation in urban waste management.
