Dharavi once had a flourishing sub-economy but its old businesses are fast disappearing thanks to the ambitious redevelopment plan. The tanneries have vanished, and next in line is the plastic recycling industry.
Mubarak Shah, a 70-year-old scrap dealer, is a regular visitor at Dharavi. There is not a single plastic recycling unit owner in the 13 compounds of sector 1 of Dharavi who does not know him. Almost daily, Shah comes to Dharavi with truckload of scrap, which gets recycled in over 50 waste processing units of Dharavi. Plastics, aluminium, copper, sheesha (lead) - Shah deals in all kind of waste materials. And, Dharavi is the best place to do business, as almost 70 per cent of India's plastic waste and scrap gets recycled in this notorious slum that rose to fame post the 2008 British film, Slumdog Millionaire.
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