Trash trawling as a career in China

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Chinese pedal their overladen tricycles in Beijing

Chinese pedal their overladen tricycles piled high with recyclable trash to a trash depot in Beijing on February 4, 2010. One of the serious negative consequences of China's rapid industrial development has been increased pollution, smog and degradation of its natural resources. UPI/Stephen Shaver | License Photo | Permalink

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Man cycles trash to garbage depot in Beijing

Beijing, China, May 8, 2007. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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A migrant Chinese repairs a broken chain on his over-loaded tricycle full of recyclable trash to a refuse depot in Beijing November 13, 2008. Beijing's 170,000 recyclers process up to a third of the capital's trash. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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A Chinese man cycles a heavy load of cardboard to a trash recycling depot in Beijing on May 13, 2009. The amount of waste generated in Beijing is growing every year and will soon be unmanageable, Chen Yong, director of the city's municipal administration commission, said this month. "Beijing will face a 'garbage crisis' soon as its current waste disposal capacity cannot meet the growing amount of trash," said Chen. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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A Chinese migrant homeless man in downtown Beijing waits next to a recycling trash bin waiting to collect plastic or aluminum waste for profit. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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A migrant worker cycles his tricycle laden with recyclable refuse through Beijing's new central business district on October 19, 2008. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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Zhuang men transport a load of recyclable styrofoam to a trash depot in Daxin's Shangjia village, Guangxi province, on July 3, 2009. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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Migrant worker collects trash in Beijing

A migrant worker hauls his daily stash of recyclable trash to a collection site in Beijing on May 07, 2006 (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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Man transports trash to collection depot in Beijing

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Impromptu recycling collection depot in Beijing

A woman waits in her makeshift shack (background) near her impromptu recyclable collection 'depot' on an old hutong, or alleyway, in central Beijing, China on February 25, 2008. As a result of China's basic (or lack of) individual property rights protection, all property is state-owned, and therefore individuals have limited say over housing issues. According to UNESCO, in the past three years a third of the 62km squared area that makes up the central part of the old city has now been destroyed. This has displaced close to 580,000 people - one and a half times the total population of Washington D.C. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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Worker peddles recyclable goods on his bicycle

A Chinese man peddles his day's catch of recyclable goods to a recycling center in downtown Beijing, China on December 19, 2006. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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A Chinese woman drops off an old, broken television at a junk collector's impromptu, sidewalk junk depot in Beijing on January 15, 2010. After surpassing the United States as the world's largest producer of household garbage, China has embarked on a massive program to build incinerators as landfills run out of space. UPI/Stephen Shaver | License Photo | Permalink

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A Chinese man takes a nap on his flatbed tricycle, a common mode for transporting goods and refuse, in Beijing on July 13, 2009. China's economy is growing at a modest rate, but not quickly enough to tame unemployment for an extended time without a radical change in macroeconomic policy, a Chinese scholar told a recent seminar in Tokyo. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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Chinese man transports recyclable goods

(UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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Migrant walks with trash

A Chinese migrant worker hauls his day's collection of recyclable waste to a trash depot in downtown Beijing February 05, 2009. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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Beijing November 13, 2008. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo | Permalink

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