Page 89 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

6 FROM “WASTE VILLAGE” TO “URBAN CIRCULAR ECONOMIC SYSTEM”… 75

On the one hand, the concentration of migrant recyclers was a good
source of income for local peasants, who rented them their land. On the
other hand, the high density of new residents combined with the recycling
activities and storage of recyclable goods made the village crowded and
chaotic. As the city expanded however, the surrounding areas were
developed, land values increased, and demolition started in Bajia. As a
result, in 2008, more than half of the migrant recyclers had to move out to
find a new place for their business. Dongxiaokou became the most popular
destination.
Before 2003, the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce
was in charge of supervising and giving approvals to junk markets. Only
entities that had received a certification could operate businesses. However,
in 2003 this system was abolished and new junk markets appeared spon-
taneously. The first was established in Dongxiaokou in 2003. The former
waste village in Wali, which was closer to the urban centre, was demolished
and the Beijing Olympic Park built at its place. A local peasant in Wali, who
had been doing junk sorting and recycling since the 1980s, decided to rent
a 33 acre land plot in Dongxiaokou and established a junk market. He
divided the market into several zones. The surface of each zone was 50–
100 square meters and had a small cottage to live in and a yard for junk
sorting and storage. He rented out the entire area to migrant scavengers,
providing them with a relatively comfortable place to stay. Other markets
established later followed this model.
As a result, Dongxiaokou attracted more than 700 family workshops
specialized in different kinds of junk recycling, such as plastics, PET bottles,
cotton fabrics, waste electronics and furniture. Every recycling zone was
located according to its category of recyclable goods. A member of the
local government said “Here, you could find everything used in your
home, being sorted and recycled by specialized workshops”. Gradually,
Dongxiaokou became the largest waste village in Beijing, absorbing more
than one-quarter of recyclable goods produced in the city.
However, the concentration of urban recyclers in both Bajia and
Dongxiaokou increasingly attracted negative comment in public media.
Objections came from local residents who complained about the dirty and
congested environment. Environmentalists scaled-up the local environ-
mental concerns to address issues of uncontrolled flows of recyclable goods
to other regions and highlight inappropriate ways of processing, hazardous
for the environment at large.