Recently, a topic on the Internet attracted attention: "Why are more and more Chinese elderly people in Australia to pick up plastic bottles, trash cans?"
It turns out that some netizens have discovered that recently in Australia, in some private front trash bins, or roadside, next to the shopping malls, a group of "mysterious" Chinese elderly people appeared.
They look for plastic bottles or glass bottles that can be recycled in the garbage can, and then take them to the automatic recycling bin for money.
According to this topic, the editor also carried out a number of online research and search, found that this phenomenon is not only in Australia, in the United States, Canada is a long time ago, everyone is not strange.
Reported by the Global Mail
The article reported that on the streets of Toronto, a 63-year-old Chinese woman would always pick up all kinds of bottles and plastic bottles on the streets, wearing masks and earmuffs, and being vigilant to anyone who wanted to get close to her.
According to reporters, this is a group of elderly people from certain parts of southern China who are unable to find a job because of lack of language or age, even if they can get an old-age pension from government. But it's still not enough to support their daily lives.
There's nothing they can do before they take to the streets to collect bottles for money.
The United States < World Daily > has reported that although there has been no increase in the number of waste pickers in the community compared to the past, there has been a sharp decline in age groups
The old people who used to pick up wasteland were usually lonely old people, but recently there were many middle-aged people put into the work of picking up wasteland. Even middle-aged women would wander out of the bar late at night, just to grab empty wine bottles that the shopkeeper did not want.
A 40-year-old Chinese-American male collector said he had just arrived in the United States for a year, did not understand English, and was not in good health, so he could not find a job, but his five-year stay in the United States did not meet the five-year requirement for government to apply for benefits.
In this way, we have to temporarily supplement the family.
The pickers also revealed that they don't need to talk to other people, just dig through the garbage, pick up recyclable bottles and sometimes earn $20 a day.
Chinanews.com has also reported that some Chinese Americans on New York Street pick up rubbish and affect the business of some businesses.
Like in Bayard.
Mr. Liu, who runs the Street restaurant, reflected to reporters that the garbage bags packed in his restaurant in front of the shop were always opened and searched by the old man who had picked up the waste. He said, "even if those old people open our bagged garbage bags and look for bottles, After all, they do all the dirty work to make a living, but they don't pack it when they're done with garbage bags. It's a headache for us to get rid of it all over the place. "
The article points out that the vast majority of the elderly in the army of picking up wasteland are not in a difficult situation at home. They can receive government benefits. However, since many people were born in the 1940s and 1950s, they are all a generation that has suffered from hardship. So when they get old, they want to make some money to help their families.
Now that we are back in Australia, there are a lot of such people on the streets of Australia. Chinese, foreigners and blacks are all there. It is definitely not just the elderly of Chinese descent who are turning through the trash can!
In view of this phenomenon, netizens see this as follows:
"there's nothing to be ashamed of!"
"if you don't steal or steal, it's good to earn some pocket money with your hands."
"if you look at it correctly, in fact others have also contributed to environmental protection."
"there's nothing wrong with picking up the bottle. Just clean it up."
Finally, what do you think of the problem?