audio, stills, text and or video: Go to http://www.zReportage.com to see more - While China's economic gains attract global attention, less is known of the monumental problem of waste spawned by a burgeoning population, booming industry, and insatiable urban growth. Garbage collectors have traditionally been unemployed or laid-off workers and migrants from rural areas, who were mostly on the lowest rung of the income ladder. But the new generation is changing this. After several months' research the Beijing Morning Post concluded that some 300,000 Beijing garbage collectors could earn 3 billion yuan (US $373 million) a year by collecting ''gold'' from trash.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - A garbage worker waters down a pile of waste.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - ZHAO TIE JU from Henan looks for pieces of metal to tear apart.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - A garbage collector sorts through some glass waste.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - Workers cut steel in the garbage compound. There are plans to replace the garbage collection area with skyscrapers, says one of the workers.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - SONG GANG, 83, has been a collector for 3-4 years. He starts collecting in the morning at 7 am.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - OU YANG from Hunan makes money in the garbage collecting business.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - LUO JI WEN from Hunan studies, while the other boys look at a computer. Many families in China have found a way to make money from collecting trash.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - YU JIN YANG, from Anhui, makes a deal with a collector.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - LIU ZU DONG from Henan loads his bike with garbage collected.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - CHEN JUN SHAN shows figures at the London Stock Exchange on his mobile phone that he bought with money from collecting garbage.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - SONG GANG, 83, makes his way to the next garbage trash area early in the morning.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - A garbage collector sifts through the trash looking for anything of value.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - A garbage collector carries a box of trash filled with items that may be worth something.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - Using a bicycle, a garbage collector transports a mound of plastic bottles that were found in the trash.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Oct. 24, 2012 - Beijing, China - A boy looks at an item found at the garbage area.
© Magnus Laupa/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
