Waste recovery channels have been in existence for a long time in India, but, stigmatised by impurity, the individuals who are involved with it remain generally marginalised by society and confined to informality. In Delhi, those who engage in waste collection are symbolically associated with the filth of the trash and, like the rubbish, are relegated to the margins of society, in the slums, where this activity is central to the survival of the population. An analysis of the collection methods of reclaimers from a poor neighbourhood in the south of the city, however, reveals highly organised practices which, through a continuum of intermediaries and professional activities, effectively ensure the recycling of waste into an industrial input for the formal economy. But while this recovery thus makes it possible to reduce the mass of waste to be buried in landfill sites, the municipality of Delhi has embarked on reforms to modernise the waste collection service, giving priority to technological solutions, such as energy incineration, to treat the mass of effluents evacuated. This neglect of the recycling sector, which accentuates the marginalisation of waste pickers, is provoking resistance from the latter who, arguing that they make an environmental contribution, are organising themselves to demand recognition of their work and a right of access to waste.