Recycling in Beijing

[xiaojiang216]

大家好，

Does anyone have some ideas on how to make sure my recyclables (paper, glass, metal, plastic) get recycled here in Beijing? I have noticed that many waste bins are accompanied with recycling bins on the street, but after taking a look into them, it looks like everything is just being thrown in together. Is there a place I can take my recyclables and not have to worry about whether or not they are being commingled with other materials?

谢谢！

[Mandyding]

At first I am very happy that you care about recycling issues in Beijing, I think most chinese people are not environmentalists, my suggestion: keep you good habit and continue to distinguish the recyclables and unrecyclables, but dont be serious about this, otherwise it may bother you to notice this everytime you passes by a waste bin.

[Archie.]

As far as I know, Beijing still can't enjoy such a high level of civilization. Though many waste bins are accompanied with recycling bins, some people without basic environmental awareness throw unrecyclables in. Maybe the municipality employs more sanitation workers to do the job by hand. I'm afraid the only thing you can do is throwing your own recyclables into the right place to reduce these workers workload.

[James Johnston]

China is in many ways a giant recycling machine. Much of your rubbish will have value for someone else, so there is no economic need for you to separate out your rubbish. There are people who will earn a living by going through the rubbish to retrieve whatever has value and sell it for recycling. The income from this type of work is too low for people in most developed countries to bother, so the recycling system relies on you doing it yourself unpaid. I imagine that even in Beijing there are people who need the money they will get from doing this. If you don't see them going through your waste outside where you live, then they will be working in the ring of landfill sites outside of the city.

That said, there usually are places you can go to to sell your waste paper and bottles if you collect enough of them, but by doing so you are denying someone who really needs the money from doing it for you. The ethics of recycling in China are different from what you might be used to.

[gougou]

The bigger stuff (esp. wood, metal, cardboard boxes, and plastic bottles) you could collect and sell (or give) to scrap collectors (ask around to find out where the next one is in your area). They in turn resell to recyclers, so you could be sure that everything gets where it belongs.

There's also people weeding through the stuff that others throw away, so a lot of that might be recycled even if the bin didn't say so.

PS: Also common in other areas of the world. My favorite picture of all time is the third place of UNICEF's Photo of the Year awards 2007, from the Philippines.

[jmhcali]

The income from this type of work is too low for people in most developed countries to bother

I don't know why you think this. People do it in the US too, and if you've lived in any city you've probably seen them going through the trash for cans and bottles. They are the very, very poorest people, but that's who's doing it in China too.

[James Johnston]

I don't live in the US. I've not seen this in the UK - perhaps the benefit of a proper welfare state.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I remember Bubbles in The Wire doing this sort of thing. I live in Peckham in London, which has amongst the highest levels of deprivation in the UK, but I have never seen an equivalent here. But, yes, I should probably have been less sweeping in my comparison.

[xuefang]

I'm living in Guangzhou, but have been thinking this same thing. Here where I live I don't even see a garbage can where I could put my rubbish. My boyfriend (Chinese) says that I can just ditch them to the street side. But how could I? I know someone will collect the rubbish later and sell what he can, but I just feel so bad to leave the rubbish like that.

And yes I do live in Guangzhou, but in a small village inside it. So this is little bit shabby neighbourhood.

[Archie.]

Ashamed of having posted such a naive comment as a economics student. I should have know the situation in China as the film <<高兴>> tells a romantic story between a scavenger and a prostitute, which impressed me deeply. The film was shoot in Xian, where a field with rubbish piled up into a mountain locates in the suburb. Every time, no sooner had a truck unloaded its garbage, hundreds of scavengers crowded round to grab the most valuable precious. I was just confused, since no necessary why does the municipality setup waste bins with recycling, maybe just for 面子. In this way, the case in Guangzhou shows more efficiency where is the forefront of market economics in China.

[gougou]

I didn't know there was a movie out for 高兴! I read the book (by 贾平凹), and it gave quite an insight into the lives of the scavengers. If anybody wants to understand their lives a bit more, I can heartily recommend it.

[xiaojiang216]

Thanks to everyone for your responses! I will follow the advice provided to manage my recyclables.

James Johnston makes an interesting point about the different ethics of recycling in China. Do you think that even though there is no economic need for people to separate their recyclables, the system is still problematic? One concern is that paper products that are soiled with food or other waste items are rendered as unrecyclable. A much larger issue is that many Chinese people are not actively thinking about the environmental implications of not recycling.

What do you all think? Any thoughts about when recycling in China will change?