Introduction：Waste recycling industry is a seriously neglected industry, which brings great benefits to environmental protection and resource utilization. At present, the recycling rate of domestic waste products in China is only up to20%While developed countries are in the process of50%The Chinese government has not paid enough attention to the recycling industry, leaving it to fend for itself. The Chinese government does not pay enough attention to the public welfare industry of waste recycling and still leaves it to fend for itself in the market, while at the same time it favors polluting industries, which should not be trampled on in the homeland of China's sons and daughters.
       

Collect plastic bottles, beer bottles and even cardboard boxes from your home to sell to the"ragpicker"For pocket money, I'm sure this is one of the many80,90memories of the latter generation growing up. As early as the end of the last century to2005Years ago, the quiet residential buildings are still swirling with the purchase of scrap yelling, and now these years of branding gradually faded. But with the improvement of the quality of life, some of the waste products not only did not reduce or even the opposite signs of increase, but why in such a good situation in China's recycling industry is gradually shrinking. Then this batch of social discarded waste finally went where? How China's recycling industry towards the decline? How does this phenomenon reflect the current situation in China?

Scrap has been increasing and the number of scrap collectors is decreasing  
     

Many people have the deepest impression of selling scrap than: paper, bottles, iron, these three gold medal big project. And can first see the following such a set of data, China from the2006annum2016The latest soft drinks market data for the first quarter of the year shows that from the2006years up to2015The overall soft drinks market is in a growth mode for the year. The growth of the soft drinks market means that the same plastic bottles will also increase, and if we go by conventional logic, the2006Year after year is a good time to buy scrap, in addition to beverage bottles, steel, digital electronics China in recent years have entered a high-speed development speed level. But on the contrary, since2006The recycling industry in China has been on a path of decline since the beginning of the year.    
   

Not only that, with the improvement of the consumption level, the contemporary people have slowly abandoned the habit of accumulating waste products to sell to the recycler, most of the plastic beer bottles waste paper scrap iron lazily spread all over the garbage heap, industrial land, street side. These many could have been recycled as well as the realization of the waste resources to such as become today's unattended, and now the recyclers even save the door-to-door to look for the"resource (such as manpower or tourism)"The steps of even0(manufacturing, production etc) costs"pick up what one can"It's become a nuisance?

Rising costs of labor and land prices erode profit points  
     

Fengcheng City in Jiangxi Province was once known as"earn one's living by collecting rags (idiom); to live off the land"The city that started out in90age group (e.g. from the 1970s to the present)2005During the course of the year, from this place was birthed a"Garbage King"(without discrimination or sarcasm), they relied on dumping second-hand waste resources to live in villas and drive cars at an early age. But nowadays in Fengcheng City, there are not many people who continue to engage in the work of buying second-hand waste resources.      

Industry insiders believe that the rising costs of labor and land prices have weakened profit points, which is the main reason why the second-hand recycling industry has collapsed one after another.2008After the year, China's housing and land prices climbed rapidly, doubling several times in a row, which is undoubtedly bad news for recyclers. Take the price fluctuation of commercial properties in Fengcheng City, the08The price of commercial housing in Fengcheng City before 2007 was2000dollars a square foot or so, and today it reaches6000The level of about $, directly tripled, and according to realtors in the suburbs of the city of Fengcheng an acre of land has also risen to300A level of more than a million dollars.        

For those in the second-hand recycling industry, beverage bottles, steel and glass all need large areas of space to be stored, and it used to be that recyclers could have a warehouse site in the city center. But as land prices have risen, these spots have been squeezed into the suburbs and even the countryside, as many recyclers' profits have been pitifully low, not to mention insufficient to pay for the fast-growing prices in the city. Since2008Global raw material prices have also fallen quite a bit since the financial crisis of 2007, for example, in the2000Back in the year or so, a drink bottle could be sold for as much as8cent1The level of the gross, and now China's inland cities beverage bottles are only3Mao Qian a catty market. Although the fall in raw material prices has had an impact on recyclers, they could still maintain some profit if house prices did not grow so rapidly. However, housing prices have forced recyclers to the periphery, which in turn has increased transportation costs, and many recyclers have to ride tricycles to and from the city and the suburbs, which is particularly hard.       

 

Recycling scrap is a hard business, glass shards and rusty iron cuts very easily, it's an"work injuries"risk, and the cost of that risk is increasing given that running to the hospital is getting more expensive every year. But the key is also the increase in the price of labor, flipped to07In some social reports around the year, media reporters were interviewing some waste recycling masters who said that they could earn money from recyclers every month.1500It was around one yuan. Not high at the time, but barely enough for the average laborer who lacked an intellectual background to survive. And by the time10years or so, some basic miscellaneous jobs such as porters, waiters, cleaners, and security guards in small and medium-sized cities also have small2000The monthly income of RMB is much higher than the increase in income from recycling, and it is relatively easy to work in the above industry. The only way for scrap dealers to hire laborers in this situation is to offer higher prices, but the scrap dealers can't afford to do so in the current situation.

Lack of waste recycling mechanism hurts China  
     

Many citizens in China seem to underestimate the role of waste recycling, starting with a set of figures. From the last century70The number of rivers in China began to plummet in the early 1900s, compared to2014China's rivers have been reduced by more than half in a few decades, and more than one-third of their length is now unsuitable for farm irrigation, with 100 percent of the rivers in the north no longer suitable for irrigation.70China is a large water-poor country with only one percent of the world's water resources.6of water resources, and the land survives20%of the total population of the planet. This phenomenon is caused by the pollution of the environment, both from industry and from discarded waste.  
     

When a large number of waste paper, glass slag, rusty steel and plastic bottles are not disposed of in a timely manner, or even simply discarded in the wild mountains, after a period of time these discarded materials are buried and covered in the land, decomposition of harmful metal elements, which will seriously damage the structure of the land elements, molding a large swath of poisonous land, the deadline for the2015year, China has had10%The toxic land is not suitable for farming, and if China has enough waste recycling organizations or businesses will greatly reduce the harm caused to the environment.        

To do so, the Chinese government needs to invest annually1-2Trillions of dollars have been spent on environmental protection, but practically speaking, most of the investment in environmental protection has been wasted on administrative costs, and very little of it has actually been spent on environmental protection. As the number of recyclers decreases, how can some backward local governments deal with the increasing amount of garbage due to the increase in the consumption level of the population? Some backward local governments do not have enough budget to ensure that some of the garbage is handled in accordance with the formal process, and incineration has become a convenient solution. However, the burning of this many waste products will emit more toxic substances, and the formation of environmental pollution, which is also part of the reasons that led to China's urban air quality decline over the years.        

In Japan, a country very different from China, the recycling industry has not collapsed but has flourished with the development of industry. The Japanese government has made great efforts in the recycling business, not only to improve the supervision of discarded goods, but also to actively support some of the waste factories, so that some of the waste materials can be utilized twice.2015In 2007, percent of Japan's waste industrial materials55Only one percent of the country's population is reutilized.3The Chinese government has not shown sufficient commitment to supporting waste factories and regulating waste materials. The Chinese government has not shown sufficient commitment to support waste factories, the waste recycling industry, or the regulation of waste materials.        

The social role of the waste recycling industry has been seriously neglected in China, and the collapse of a huge waste recycling industry in China has not received enough attention from the society and triggered public thinking. Although there is no direct data to indicate how much impact the recycling industry has had on China, after all, environmental pollution statistics are a huge project. However, Chinese residents can observe whether China's environment has become worse after the fall of China's waste recycling industry, and when did the haze, surface deposition, and water pollution exposed by the media appear dramatically?

Establishment of mechanisms for the full recycling of waste products and public disclosure of pollution data  
     

Even media journalists in the industry have no way of knowing how serious environmental pollution is in China, and Chinese government departments publish very little data and lack monitoring of the data to determine whether the official figures reflect the current problem. The lack of data on environmental pollution makes it difficult for Chinese media journalists to provide the public with real reports on environmental pollution and to draw the attention of the whole society. In this regard, the government needs to improve the public's right to know about the extent of environmental pollution as soon as possible.        

At the same time, China should also establish a comprehensive waste recycling mechanism, not only in the treatment of some waste newspapers, mineral water bottles, steel, but also should be radiated to the electronics, household waste, discarded home appliances and other areas. The Chinese government should vigorously support or lead some social capital to focus on the waste recycling industry. According to a survey by the industry's China Plastics Machinery Network, China's recycling rate for second-hand household waste products hovers at only one percent.20Around (construction waste only)5%), the utilization rate is even lower. Such a low recycling rate not only causes inconvenience to residents' lives, but also contributes to environmental pollution.        

The recycling rate of waste products in developed countries today is around50%above, and as high as in Japan and Germany60%The recycling process not only reduces the government's expenditure on environmental protection but also creates an additional profit. For the time being, at least in China, there is huge room for growth in waste recycling, which not only reduces the government's expenditure on environmental management but also creates an additional profit.        

The government can not be similar to the recycling of such socially beneficial (environmental) enterprises to let it in the market on its own, this industry with public welfare should be accepted from the government social support, and the Chinese government has gone in the opposite direction, some places are more eager to have polluting enterprises to move in. At present, the waste recycling industry is facing labor costs, low prices and other constraints on the development of the problem, the government should help public welfare industry to solve the problems caused by the community, such as to help waste merchants to build some of the temporary abandoned storage sites, or at a price lower than the market price of rental to these tradesmen. The government can also pull some social capital into the recycling industry, so that waste recycling to form a scale, more efficient and more professional.      

Environmental pollution is a serious problem that the Chinese government needs to face at present. The Chinese people should be proud of the quantum satellite, and the Chinese people are also very happy to see the progress and development of China. However, the Chinese government should take into account both the national interest and the interests of the people, and the two should not be treated in a skewed manner. Environmental pollution is closely related to the lives of Chinese residents, and the Chinese government's efforts and investments in remediation are far below international standards. We hope that the above will be a cause for concern and attention, and that it is everyone's responsibility to protect their homeland!