| Every morning, Tian Wen Qui leaves his home under | | | | numerous containers full of trash waiting to be |
| a bridge in Beijing to rummage through city trash | | | | claimed and picked up by its owners, said Mr. Wang. |
| cans until nightfall for empty pop bottles, plastic | | | | According to the China National Resources Recycling |
| cooking oil containers and soy sauce bottles which he | | | | Association, copper scraps, which used to sell for |
| places inside two sacks he carries over his shoulder. | | | | $8,000 a ton in 2007, is now down at $3,000. Tin is |
| On a good day, Tian normally makes $3 after selling | | | | now down at $5 per pound from $300 while paper |
| his find to one of the city’s numerous garbage | | | | price sank by as much as 80%. |
| recycling stations. The "good days" are now getting | | | | People in the recycling industry used to make money |
| few and far between. | | | | from getting other nations’ trash but hard times |
| A vast empire of rubbish and junk | | | | are now threatening China’s recyclers from |
| Trash recycling used to be a multibillion dollar business | | | | every angle. Gao Zuxue owns and manages a small |
| in China until it was shut down by the worldwide | | | | garbage collection depot with his family. |
| economic crunch and ensuing drop in commodity | | | | Gao revealed his depot used to bring in about $450 a |
| prices. Empty bottles are now sold at half of last | | | | month in 2007 when business was booming. |
| summer’s price. | | | | Nowadays, $80 is something to be thankful for, Gao |
| The decline in the recycling industry has affected the | | | | said as he stood in a nearly empty room that was |
| lives of people like Tian, the persons who pay him | | | | once filled with used radiators, old magazines and |
| for his collected waste products, and the | | | | empty soda bottles. |
| manufacturers who convert these recyclables into | | | | People now refuse to sell their junk to them because |
| usable items to be sold in stores and construction | | | | of their buying price which most think as ridiculously |
| areas worldwide. That is why trash from the U.S. and | | | | low, Gao said. |
| Europe being sold in China are sent back after being | | | | Who’s taking out the trash? |
| refused (no pun intended) by potential clients. | | | | While some recycling industrialists say that copper |
| Since the Chinese people consume less than | | | | and plastic prices have slightly improved, they are still |
| Westerners, 70% of the trash that enter the | | | | expecting tougher times ahead due to the worsening |
| country to feed its recycling business should come | | | | economic crisis worldwide. |
| from the outside, said China National Resources | | | | The sentiment is likewise shared by the residents of |
| Recycling Association spokesman Wang Yong Gang. | | | | Bajia Khun, a small town built entirely on trash on |
| Chinese lifestyle basically adheres to thriftiness and | | | | Beijing’s outer fringes. Staring at a virtual ghost |
| austerity, and they will resort to repair things many | | | | town surrounded by mountains of stockpiled |
| times over before throwing them away, added Mr. | | | | schoolbooks, magazines and notebooks, Chen |
| Wang. | | | | Xiaorong, a resident, recalls when hundreds of her |
| The plunge in item prices was very sudden that steel | | | | neighbors used to make a living here out of other |
| and metal recyclables which arrived in container ships | | | | people’s garbage. |
| in China’s ports were priced way below than | | | | According to Chen, people lost quite a fortune on |
| what was tagged when they left the wharves of | | | | recycling and have decided to return to the |
| Los Angeles, New Jersey or Rotterdam. | | | | countryside. Her family who used to earn $735 a |
| Garbage devaluated | | | | month will still weather it out here on $360. |
| The port in Hong Kong is now the home of | | | | |