Posted on 03/11/2009 11:50:14 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China’s Big Recycling Market Is Sagging
By DAN LEVIN
BEIJING — Each morning Tian Wengui emerges from the home he makes under a bridge here, two large sacks slung over his shoulder. Through the day, and well into the night, he scours garbage cans for soda bottles, soy sauce containers and cooking oil jugs. Selling the refuse to one of Beijing’s ubiquitous recycling depots, Mr. Tian can earn $3 on a good day.
But good days are getting harder to come by.
Since Mr. Tian migrated from Sichuan province, the multibillion-dollar recycling industry has gone into a nosedive because of the global economic crisis and a concomitant fall in commodity prices. Bottles now sell for half of what they did in the summer.
“Even trash has become worthless,” Mr. Tian said recently as he made his way to a collection center, his sacks nearly bursting.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ping!
You’d think it would be the other way around.
I was under the impression that the Chinese recycled out of necessity rather than political correctness.
LOL!!! The snowball is growing and picking up speed.
Does this mean China will be reducing exports to the US?
Yes, because Americans are not buying.
Writer ‘Dan’ must have watched CSI:NY tonight and hopped right onto his word processor. The theme was enviromental wackos blowing up some guy who exported electronic recycled materials to China. Too bad Gary Sinise has to put up with such scripts - although he did catch the bomber ;-)
Not about political correctness for the Chinese... Recycling is (or was) a huge for profit business.
I have heard the American market of recycling is tanking too.
I have seen $48 dollar recycled totes made of rice bags that are imported from China.
Money goes to support some village.
I love the totes but not enough to shell out that kinda dough for one. Have to put it on the Christams wish list.
All that crap is piling up.
Aluminum cans are always worth recycling but my guess is all the other "recyclables" can just be thrown in the regular trash. Cities are brain dead and will still tell you to sort them out but they are merging them with regular trash going to the landfill
Also all the plastic medical tubing and sterile plastic water bottles ect I go through.
And I am talking big wheeled blue bins like the size of the garbage bin.
Well recycling helps you a bit
Scrap steel continues to go to China from the USA. If any of you are wanting to start any small recycling/casting operations, you should grab some of that steel fairly soon and cover it up. Getting ore and smelting it can be expensive.
Penn and Teller do an excellent (but profane) story on the real story of recycling. I recommend it (on Youtube).
Even trash has become worthless
even in china where you’d usually expect to find it in children’s toys and toothpaste and an occasional stir fry
If they sell many at that price, they’re making a killing.
I know the guy who does these:
http://clothbag.com/products.html
At Sam’s Club, you can purchase 10 pounds (IIRC) of Basmati rice. The rice is in a plastic inner bag and the outer bag is burlap, with handles and a zipper, screen printed with Product of Tibet etc. All for $15.00 or so. Excellent rice, cute bag. Would make a good knitting bag or one for carting sewing/quilting projects around.
Some pics
http://www.kusharice.com/basmati_rice.html
Did Tony Soprano move to Shanghai?
They have gone from getting $35.00 a ton for newsprint last spring, to paying $40.00 a ton to get rid of it this month.
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