Where does all the junk go? A new book, Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion Dollar Trash Trade, by Adam Minter, explains the huge global recycling trade. China is the biggest importer of recycling from the rich world - and scenes of its recycling industry are beautifully (and horrifically) captured in a documentary film Manufactured Landscapes mentioned in an earlier post.
A review of the book by The Economist explains the dynamics of this global industry with annual revenues of more than $500 billion:
“China lacks the raw materials it needs, so it imports the metal, often as scrap. This has pushed up prices; a pound of copper has risen from 60 cents in the late 1990s to nearly $3.40 today. Americans, meanwhile, have more scrap than they can handle. Known among scrap traders as the “Saudi Arabia of Scrap”, the country lacks real demand for manufacturing materials. American labour costs are too high—and environmental regulations too onerous—for it to be cost-effective to salvage most scrap anyway. For the savvy, fast-talking businessmen of the international scrap trade, this has created a profitable exchange. It has also driven the kind of innovation that diverts more junk from landfills.”
I'm reminded of a moving and beautiful documentary Wasteland by artist Vik Muniz and Lucy Walker, a portrait of poor Brazilian recyclers combing the dumps of Rio de Janeiro to eke out a living. Also a story about the transforming power of art.