Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
Related Articles
Beijing no longer wants the country to be a global trash can and has already started phasing out import of solid waste Her fingers are bent from 20 years of collecting cardboard from Hong Kong’s streets, but Au Fung-lan says she has no desire to give up the gruelling work. At 67, she is one of around 2,900 collectors, mainly women over the age of 60, whose frail figures are a familiar sight, guiding trolleys loaded with cardboard through a city clogged with traffic and people. They pick up discarded packing boxes from shops, markets and residential buildings, selling them for a few dollars to recycling depots, where cardboard is more valuable than plastic. The depots then ship it abroad — up to 95% of it to mainland China in 2016, according to local authorities — as Hong Kong has no recycling plants of its own to convert it into usable materials. However, as China closes the door to imported rubbish, even from semi-autonomous regions such as Hong Kong, Ms. Au’s livelihood is under threat. Beijing no longer wants the country to be a global trash can and has already started phasing out taking solid waste — a process it expects to complete by 2020. Pragmatic Ms. Au says she tries not to think too much about her work drying up. She continues to put in 14-hour days so she can afford a carer for herself and her 77-year-old husband, also a cardboard collector, when they finally decide to give up work. Risky business “Some people think our work is arduous and look down on us. They say: ‘You are so old, go home and enjoy life. Why collect cardboard?’” Ms Au said. “But if I can still work, I don’t want to rely on others.” Au turned to cardboard collecting after being laid off as a factory worker and courier. She has three grown-up children with jobs but does not want to depend on them for help. By working from pre-dawn until dusk, she earns up to HK$300 (around $38) daily, selling 300 kg of cardboard at HK$1 (13 U.S. cents) per kg. It is a phenomenal work rate and much higher than the average collector who makes around HK$47.30 a day, according to concern group Waste Pickers Platform (WPP).
