Recycling Day

When I saw this man whiz by me at the wholesale market yesterday, it reminded me of a conversation we had with a business acquaintance several years ago. I had asked him why we never saw any garbage trucks in Fuzhou, a city of more than 6 million people, nor in Zhongshan, a relatively small town of about 500 thousand.

I was stunned to find out that even though there are various forms of large-scale waste management in the country, organized daily or weekly garbage collection is not a necessity for most big commercial complexes, such as office buildings, shopping centers, restaurants, hotels, small businesses, etc., and seldom is it used at residential buildings. So, what happens to all the trash?

Think of the sheer amount of "stuff" being produced in China, along with its massive population - waste management has to be one of the country's biggest businesses! And, in fact, I've discovered it is! But where I was looking for a NYC-type model of trash collection (you know, where everything is organized and unionized, even politicized), in developing China waste management has been "industrialized" by individuals who long ago figured out how to make money from what others throw away - in short, it largely exists in the form of grass-roots recycling!

When I walk to the local market in Zhongshan, I pass right by the back entrance to a large apartment complex. Behind the building is a large area where the residents (perhaps along with everyone else in the neighborhood) dispose of everything from heavy duty industrial materials right down to small appliances, assorted bags of garbage, and every variety of used and discarded personal item you can think of. You can just imagine, at the end of each day that trash area is overflowing, crammed with all imaginable forms of trash and refuse.

Right next to the refuse area is a small shack housing a family of three who are the self-appointed "site managers" for the building's trash. They've set up their little business and live at the "site" to protect their particular "trash territory" (which, without having personally assessed it, I assume must be quite lucrative!)

And boy, do they know how to manage trash! These industrious trash wizards determine exactly who comes into the "site," and when, and then take a cut from every load that's hauled away. There are people that take cardboard, others who collect Styrofoam, still others who remove loads of metal, even guys who pull up with huge trucks and haul away small appliances and large pieces of discarded equipment. When I walk by in the mornings, I'm always amazed that the area has been completely cleared out from the evening before, and the huge mounds of trash are magically gone - all without a garbage truck in sight!

But, in fact, there's no magic about it! The "magic" is done by people just like this man - individuals who specialize in collecting certain types of trash and delivering it to somebody somewhere who pays them good money for it. Today, this man's inventory is cardboard, and he's rigged quite a contraption on his electric bike to haul his load with maximum efficiency.

Wouldn't you love to know the hierarchy of the garbage industry in China - do you get more cash for glass bottles and less for cardboard? Is Styrofoam easier to sell than a truck full of steel girders? And who takes care of all the food refuse - are there specialists for that, too?

We may never know the fine details of waste management in China, but one thing is clear: Everyday is Recycling Day!