China has been one of largest importers of waste material. But as the world economy has slowed, there has been a severe drop in demand. Recently, Biz Journal quoted Brian Scaffer of Blue Mountain Recycling, located in Philadelphia, as saying the values of recyclables had fallen 80 percent in a four-week period last fall.
Millions of poor people in China make a living sifting through the garbage, pulling out anything of perceived value, and then selling their wares to a middle man, really just living a meager existence with the small pocket change earned (that is now even smaller). Wu Wenxiu, a recycle-man interviewed by the Tapai Times was upset to learn, his wholesale buyer would only pay him 1 RMB ($0.15) for two pounds of plastic.
While walking around in Shandong Province, China, I found evidence of a slowing waste market. In the video above, you will see a large pile of glass bottles, abandoned after being pulled and separated from the garbage for recycling. Any ideas on what can be done about the 1000's of abandoned glass bottles shown in the video? They now have no cash value, it's a shame because these used bottles would have been recycled into new products.
See the rest of the story:
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/recycli...
Sources:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/01/12/2003433521
http://cbs3.com/greenscene/Green.Scene.Recycling.2.774487.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/09/recycling-global-recession-china
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