I've posted pictures of Beijing's trash collectors before, but neglected to elaborate on how the system works. There is no formal recycling system here as one would be used to if one has ever lived in the U.S. -- that is, no one separates their paper and plastic from the rest of the trash and sits it outside in a blue or green bin. Instead, everyone tosses everything into the trash. Nevertheless, I'm fairly confident that most bottles that are thrown out this way are eventually picked out of the trash by one of Beijing's many trash merchants, such as the woman in this picture. Mostly you see them scavenging around in public trash cans for any bottle of piece of cardboard who they can then sell to another guy for less than pennies on the dollar, although I'm pretty sure someone picks through the trash from our apartment as well. That person then takes the recyclables, usually on a tricycle with a cart on the back, to a center that separates things into different categories and sends them off to be recycled. Like many other ways of doing things here, it's an inefficient system, but it provides a staggering number of people with a very meager salary on which to live. I photographed this particular woman at Beijing West Train Station, which is one of the most interesting places to watch people in Beijing.
