2009 Jul 06 The Bottle Brothers: The State of Recycling
In an alleyway in Weigongcun, three brothers from Anhui weathered the worst days of the financial crisis with their bottle collection business. The small patch that serves as their headquarters is filled with thousands of bottles sending up a terrific stench in the scorching summer weather. Students with huge bags line up outside, waiting to dump their bottles.
The Jiang brothers pay RMB 50,000 a year for their small space and the government license that allows them to recycle. They face fierce competition from unlicensed mobile recyclers, but still, the brothers are beginning to thrive. Summer has arrived, and with it a sharp increase in the number of bottles. They responded to our interview while furiously counting thousands of bottles, throwing them all into an enormous sack on a small truck nearby.
the Beijinger: Where do you sell the bottles you collect?
There is a big recycling plant near Lishui Qiao where we used to sell our bottles. But now there’s a factory outside of the Fifth Ring Road that we have established a partnership with.
tbj: How many bottles can you collect?
We have a steady supply every day because we are close to a bunch of universities. Usually we collect 6,000 to 7,000 every day in the summer. We have to carry five or six sacks, each of which contains 1,200 bottles, to the recycling plant every day in order to clear the space.
tbj: How badly was the bottle recycling business hit by the financial crisis?
It almost hit bottom. Not only was the bottle recycling business affected, but the steel, paper, wood, and electronic products recycling were all looking bad as well. Some of my family members used to be in the bottle recycling business, but they had to find a new way to make a living at that time because demand from the recycling plants was slashed so much. We barely survived here.
tbj: How much has the price for bottles fluctuated over the past year?
It used to be 1 jiao per bottle when the business was thriving. The financial crisis and the Olympics brought the price down to 0.5 jiao per bottle, and now it’s up again to 0.7 or 0.8 jiao depending on how the demand from the recycling plant goes.
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