China's War On Waste | 101 East

[Music] China used to take half the world's recyclable rubbish not anymore they've got enough their own the government has now declared a war on waste but what do you do with the garbage generated by 1.4 billion people on steep Chow on this episode of 101 East we lift the lid on China's rubbish crisis [Music] we've traveled about an hour outside Beijing where the problems China faces managing its wastes are on stark display this stockpile here is the result of share bikes games gone wrong the bicycles were dumped here because they were clogging up Beijing streets this is just one of many bicycle dumping grounds dotted across China they're a symbol of a culture that produces and throws away on a massive scale and whether it's bicycles plastics or industrial wastes it's a problem that's getting bigger and bigger and bigger [Music] China's government has now declared its own war on waste the question is is it winning nowhere illustrates better the scale of the problems China faces and it's war on waste the next orbital Beijing population almost the same as Australia each day the city produces twenty five thousand tons of waste more than double what it turned out twenty years ago this army of food careers is unwittingly at the frontline of the problem don't you tell your brother Salah food delivery is known here as why my in China's big cities you can order pretty much anything from a multi-course banquet to a single cup of coffee for next to nothing i'ma pendulum and ashamed of our Chancellor Hagia Sophia a banquet and gentlemen how sure she's my mat oil wasn't my daughter food Korea route yen dreamed following his father and grandfather into the army but a disability made that impossible now the 22 year old is serving his countrymen in a different way every day he races against the clock his job and income depend on getting good reviews [Music] anyhow am i right now time you saw [Music] Thank u so G so moody and bang so they backed out slugging bang - so early on Joe Joe Joe producer [ __ ] on my idea these newly popular online delivery services are helping to generate vast amounts of plastic waste across the country about 20 million orders are made each day mainly from two major companies producing around 60 million plastic containers Shahnameh concentrate higher and function what you are some there was a sooner that was a chunk o she has another salad to do you are there I nice to meet you me too we traveling around basically promoting rubbish sorting Chen Li wen knows all too well the challenges faced by a country where more people are getting wealthy fast here's some villages they don't have the basic infrastructure for wisdom enjoyment she's one of China's most energetic environmental campaigners today Chen Li wen is taking us to see where a good part of Beijing rubbish ends up on the city's outskirts historically China's Sidious also sends their waste to the countryside but gradually the farmers refused because we have more and more not organic stuff we've come to one of Beijing's biggest and oldest dump sites home to both a landfill and an incinerator and this is about as close as we can get this is it the first time I came here was almost 10 years ago it's now so big it's going like a beauty in the past this landfill contaminated the groundwater as far as four kilometers away locals also worry about emissions from the incinerator over the years I have visited over 30 facilities including landfills and incinerators across China I could see how this facility is heavy impact the people but people are suffering from the pollution without sustainable waste management we don't have future [Music] in its war to reduce waste China has one major advantage a vast network of rubbish pickers who keep much of the recyclable waste out of landfill and incineration okay yeah man says watch Aniyah Wang Jin dong is one of Beijing's 170,000 rubbish scavengers part of the informal recycling industry that currently handles about a third of the city's garbage vibrant worker who left his home province 10 years ago Wang lives on the fringes of the capital in a brick Shack with no electricity or running water Wang and his wife took in their nephew 11 year old Hmong nan after the child's father became ill almost no thankful mate were you go to ugh ah ha Eliza made Matt and I have for some new or died episode I met oh by the way Obama Maya I mean you they were born also don't Wong is committed to giving his nephew and education [Music] [Music] today Wang is taking me with him to collect bottles on a demolition site covered with plastic mesh to keep down the dust it's slow work the real money in rubbish comes from controlling turf well-connected collectors cut deals with the big residential compounds paying for exclusive rights to handle their waste the way you manage introduce ourselves [Music] well it's not the easiest way to make a living at the best of times but it's not even 10:00 a.m. that's already getting up towards 35 degrees yes a djembe this is a position you know what's in our water there Willy oh la la la sure sure what is before 2 dB well oh hello hazel what - not when you're headed west she was here son you what so Canelo did not wanna what would he put you through the rubbish pickers are highly effective according to Chen Li wen whose study them closely we can recycle whatever the market can deal with we we do the field work and found that been recycled like almost 90% of the recyclables it is much much higher than any developed countries they rely on recycling to risk family moong naina tends a local school set up for the children of the city's migrant workers it costs his uncle around two hundred dollars a year in fees but even in this marginalized community the rubbish Pickers nephew is at the bottom of the pack that's wrong [Music] the rubbish collectors might be efficient but their future is uncertain most like one Jin dong come from outside the city in recent crackdowns Beijing has tried to force them out recently Wong has heard that the buildings around his home are slated for demolition that he fears his could be next that's a much one journey since all that even be there [Music] the rubbish pickers are facing another threat it comes from entrepreneurs like Yoshi a song who's at the forefront of a government push to solve the waste crisis with high-tech solutions don't call me or an autograph for thinking that oh she wanted us friends a moment ago we showed me people tea that should not want the venetie yo sample cocoa me or to me that you inquire yeah me I mean each other fruits so it's you sure EJ or you go either you go Hmong samba just receive a bunch of the highest order you're doing yet the O's company aims to cut out the rubbish collectors by encouraging individuals to recycle each bottle credits just under one cent to your bank account their company has placed 5000 of these machines around Beijing there's a daily limit of 20 to 30 bottles per user designed to stop the rubbish Pickers from cashing in the company then transports the bottles to a plastic processing Factory and ultimately turns them into consumer goods will happen so the power to pass or to attain various traditions and replenishes you can make or the physician this has become to be a hover chair am de you know feat haha the community Joanna she is a mother nature [Music] Hwang Jin dong is still recycling the old-fashioned way he peddles his wares to a market more than an hour across town another small cog in the informal recycling chain boom baguette have you done it cool laughs II mean I don't know what I'm made of hi Mina tired alloys changing to more work is more general this is so we start with solutions judge Taten touch and tell you here the city's trash turns into treasure any item useful for manufacturing plastic cardboard metal has a value here it's been a good day mr. Wong's made about thirty dollars from a week's garbage enough to support his family for another week from here the plastic bottles cardboard and other packaging and collected on the streets of Beijing begin the long journey away from the capital the question is where does it all go from here when the government announced its ban on foreign waste last year it also cracked down on backyard recycling centers like this single Porter the almighty pH miserable Sookie it's a bit funny because it's easy to turn a piece of the soon included as this recent state media documentary reveals authorities are making a show of closing down these centers because they're a danger to workers health and the environment due to do deductions they're going to punc in them can be handled awfully continue to use in each but of all these backyard operators really shut down and if they have where is China's domestic waste being recycled we decide to visit what once was the biggest Center for plastic recycling in northern China at the when and district and our from Beijing while processing was officially shut down here some years ago I've heard there's still some going on and there are indications recycling is happening nearby here's another truck with plastic pellets we've gone through the recycling process already and they're ready to be taken away and used for manufacturing but if it is still happening it's well hidden diva so no girl no [ __ ] face soon as I hung them are you gonna go cytology Varma yeah we are done Darla yeah hi or Emma I call one of the numbers on the shop fronts and the man tells me he's moved his business to Inner Mongolia in China's far north when the center was closed people would shift it to a more remote area to continue their business because we still have so much flat plastic we didn't solve the problem it's just a shift of the pollution from one like very concentrated Center to a more like dispersed villages in went on there are cameras everywhere about half an hour after our rival local officials turn up whatever is going on here they don't want us to see it so they're wanting us to come down and have a word with them before supposedly they'll show us one of these local factories here we'll see after an hour at the station the police take us to lunch then send us on our way they say plastic processing has all been shut down and went on and moved to other parts of China [Music] back in Beijing there are some aspects to the rubbish system the government is keen to showcase city officials have organized a media tour to show us how they're dealing with Beijing space Beijing is one of 46 cities across the country trialing a new rubbish sorting system government efforts so far to convince city dwellers to sort their waste haven't gone well Erik leo is the lead plastics campaigner for Greenpeace you also maybe [ __ ] to me and Sandra know differently didn't you go on to outshoot IV anything at all once collected Beijing's rubbish is compacted then trucked on to one of the world's largest incinerators and that's the next stop on our tour the lewd Yosh an incinerator in the hills west of Beijing burns about an eighth of the city's garbage transforming the heat into energy according to Jung you a Zhang from the city government each year this plant produces the same amount of electricity as 140,000 tonnes of coal no more children 2005 energy - should you build a natural woman yeah sure it's handy Omonia scenario curvature grounder yang your own agenda to go to go to the old way China wants its big cities to burn more than half their household waste by the end of this decade but if the rubbish isn't properly sorted there are problems talking facilities so you Jeff what I'll add to that - no - that's a photographer - you're a child - you're be told either cutting some traction bases your RO unit John Byrne you're doing your hot water from what we see here today there's still a lot of plastics in the mix it's clear China has a long way to go [Music] for food courier route yen it's been another long day on the streets of Beijing the central government is now considering restrictions on packaging including takeaway food containers Rajan hasn't heard about these plans but he agrees there needs to be change Hanuman - Sanju DiMaggio changes on an exam yo ho chi Chi su na Jung [ __ ] Russia Sanjeev Kumar Mahadeva so Soho Corrigan Johannes Terrence Masson Jordan about super my is a hydrogen edema [Music] I've come back to see the rubbish pick up one Jin dong and his nephew six weeks earlier he told us he was worried the local government would try to force him out of his home well this is a bit of a surprise since we were here last time that completely bricked up this line where their houses don't even know if they're home anymore the channel was in the yellow tag and taken and a warrant for Tina Wang Jin dong doesn't know how much longer their house will remain standing but he says whatever happens about try to stay in Beijing so much Alan Watts know what Xiao Lin love jnanam prohibition still funny on Oprah no hallelujah hallelujah with his rubbish cart bricked in Wong is trying to support his family by picking up casual labour jobs it's not the future he dreams of for his nephew Sean Holloway you who watch a little unassigned Cara Coburn who Oliver which issue another one of the shows the youth of the year some fudge what a monkey on the law you know you the user no offense and then although - jolly yet so what I didn't want to [Music] China wants to make a cleaner future for eleven-year-old mung Nam but if the rubbish pickers disappear he could be growing up in the country that recycles less than it does now as the big cities modernize the lives of those who have done the most to keep them clean will be more precarious than ever you [Music]

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 355,871

Rating: 4.7687201 out of 5

Keywords: al jazeera english, al jazeera, aljazeera, china, beijing, environment, garbage, waste, employment, 101 east, garbage picker, garbage man, street hawker, recycle, recycling, repurpose, China's War On Waste, china dumping ground, global waste epidemic, garbage truck, dumping groun, taiwan trash, china population

Id: 3H0_fwZCNYA

Length: 25min 40sec (1540 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 11 2018