I followed waste collectors around Shanghai…
City Hopper
Woken up in the early morning by the urban waste collector’s broadcast “RECYCLE OLD TV, FRIDGE and ACs!!!”, my memory jumped back to the start of my sustainability consulting career, which has linked me so closely to these urban waste recyclers.
I still remember my first day at work, while I was fantasizing about wearing my power-suit and presenting to the corporate bunch from CBD. Then my boss told me to go follow and talk to the recyclers from the streets…
After one year of such field work, I got quite close to the “informal waste economy” and got a much deeper understanding of their value to sustainability.
One day of e-waste collectors in Shanghai
With the “tuk tuk” sound from the motor three wheelers, Shanghai’s e-waste collectors start their days shuttling through small alleys and collecting electronic products that people no longer want. In the afternoon, they will sort out the non-reusable items which will then be uploaded to a truck going to electronic waste recycling plants. After 6pm, all the e-waste collectors will gather at a trading market to sell the items with higher/reusable value. Within a few hours efficient trading, various items will be transported to some second and third tier cities overnight and sold in second-hand stores in the next couple of days.
And Shanghai, will continue to shine fashionably after spitting out all kinds of rubbish.
There are currently four informal trading markets in Shanghai with thousands of collecting hustling through the city maintaining its fancy appearance. However, the middle and upper class often don’t want shabby waste collectors in their neighborhoods and streets. Recently, the city plans to keep them out.
Who keeps the city shinning?
“Without us, even the Huangpu river is not enough to fit all the stuff people buy and throw away.”
I always remembered this quote from one of the collectors we have interviewed. Though it sounds a bit extreme, it actually reflects the extent of the municipal waste issues.
As the infrastructure of modern cities is becoming more and more established, we have been accustomed to the convenience it provides to encourage shopping activities and beyond. We are ignorant of the production and end of life treatment of the products that we carelessly buy. Take food for an example, we are used to buying food that are conveniently packaged in layers of plastics from the supermarkets, completely disconnected to its production process and food waste treatment. The urban population have been losing their awareness of the impact of their lavishing actions on the ecosystem as a whole.
Often invisible are these recyclers, shuttling through neighborhoods to dust off the scraps of the urban keeping the city running as if without consequences.
Looking back
Living in the age of rapid urbanization, people are often busy leaping forward but forget to stop and reflect. People’s lives were a lot more connected to nature in the 80s, resources were valued and made the most out of. The lifestyle back then was in general a lot more sustainable and the economy was a lot more “circular”.
In the end, we mapped out the urban food waste and e-waste ecosystem and summarized our findings in a report. The “dream” finally came true when we presented these findings to the executives at the CBD, where you can rarely spot a waste collector.
About the Writer:
As a sustainability consultant at Collective Responsibility, June explores the challenges and business opportunities for Fortune 500 firms on various environmental and social issues. She has built solid knowledge and on-the-ground research experience on food waste/e-waste/textile waste collection and recycling systems.
She recently published a report on the topic of Shanghai’s food waste management system.
城市穿梭者
一大早被小区里回收旧彩电的喇叭声叫醒，我开始回想自己的可持续发展咨询工作是如何与这些城市垃圾回收者挂钩，甚至到了如今如此密不可分的地步。
记得开始可持续发展咨询工作的第一天，幻想自己出入CBD，为各色跨国公司指点江山，无所不能，结果老板一头冷水泼下来，让我去跟踪街上回收垃圾的三轮车。
随后一年多的时间里，我渐渐与这些个体回收者熟识，并深刻体会到了这些城市垃圾回收者的价值，以及他们与可持续发展的关系。
电子垃圾回收者的24小时
上海的电子垃圾回收者的一天从小区清晨的回收喇叭声开始，他们骑着摩托车穿梭在大大小小的弄堂里，将人们不再需要的电子产品，比如电视、电脑和手机低价回收，下午，他们将回收物品做分类，将无法再二次利用的电子垃圾给电子垃圾回收厂的大卡车运走。晚上6点，他们带着价值较高的电子产品，在上海的各个交易市场集合。来自各个地方的回收厂家和二手买家井然有序挑选物品进行交易；深夜，各类卡车满载货物，启程前往二三线城市；次日早晨，这些二手产品将出现在那里的各个二手商店里。而上海作为一个买买买的时尚之都，在吐出各类垃圾后将继续它的华丽。
这样的交易场合目前在上海有4个，这样的回收者有几千名，但由于城市的拆迁规划，他们将被驱逐。
城市光鲜的外表由谁来维持？
记得一个电子垃圾回收者对我说过：“如果没有我们，大家每天买买买，整个黄浦江都不够他们填垃圾。”
这看似偏激的话，其实也道出城市垃圾围城的问题。由于现代城市的基础设施建设越来越完善，大家已经习惯于快速获取物品、使用然后丢弃的行为，完全不会思考他们的生产及回收处理阶段。比如食品，很多人习惯了购买超市里被塑料层层包裹的方便食品，却早已忘记它们在前端如何被种植生产，也不知道塑料包装扔到垃圾桶后会去向哪里。在这个过程中，大多数人失去了与大自然的互动及联系。也正因如此，人们不知道自己买买买、造成资源浪费对整个生态系统产生什么样的影响。
而城市垃圾的回收者，作为城市系统的末端，每天穿梭在大街小巷，为城市涤去当天的废弃物，强烈的感受着城市的吞吐消耗，以及垃圾带来的巨大威胁。很多人会对这些与垃圾打交道的回收者嗤之以鼻，却不知他们如何每24小时让整个城市系统重回规整。
回首
城市化进程越来越快，人们都在奔跑，却少了时间驻足思考。回首八九十年代的中国，我们的长辈的生活与大自然紧密连接，因为明白资源的珍贵，每一个产品都被尽可能的物尽其用。那个时候，中国是最可持续最环保的国家，每个人都是循环经济体系下的回收者。
一年后，我将上海的餐厨垃圾和电子垃圾回收地图描绘出来，做成报告，讲给CBD那些管理者听。。。
