Documentary exposes harm caused by garbage

A photographer who gained fame by making a documentary about garbage disposal in Beijing has zoomed in on trash again, revealing in his latest work how plastic waste imported from overseas is damaging people's lives.

Wang Jiuliang, 39, spent three years filming The Plastic Kingdom, traveling around the country and abroad to investigate the recycling industry.

The project, launched in 2011, was inspired by a visit to a recycling plant in California where a manager told Wang that a huge amount of waste is sent to China.

"I was curious about why garbage was sent to China," Wang said. "Is it because China has more advanced recycling technology than other countries?"

Wang began his research immediately after returning to China. He found that the recycling industry harms both the environment and the health of low-paid villagers.

"It is a pressing issue worthy of attention, so I wanted to record it in a documentary," Wang said.

He visited a number of provinces that have large recycling plants, including Hebei, Shandong and Guangdong, and went to Japan and the United States to investigate why plastic waste is exported to China.

"The recycling process we found in some plants is astonishing," Wang said. "The waste is categorized by villagers who cannot read the words stamped on the items.

"The workers identify them by listening to the sound they make when thrown to the ground or by smelling them, and the waste is then smashed or melted down by low-end machines.

"It poses a big threat to the air, water and people's health."

Wang encountered communities of scavengers living among the waste, and was deeply moved by many of them.

He spoke to a woman from the Yi ethnic group who could not afford to go to a hospital when she was pregnant, and gave birth near a recycling plant.

He also encountered an 11-year-old girl who had moved to a plastic factory with her parents when she was 7.

Her father promised he would send her to school when he had earned enough money, but four years on he has not done so.

"The girl made a fake computer out of plastic waste, and the 'screen' was an advertisement for a Japanese weight-loss drug," Wang said. "I'll never forget the scene."

The managers of the plants did not welcome Wang's film crew, so much of the shooting had to be carried out covertly. The team frequently faced threats and intimidation.

On one occasion the group was trapped in a village after local people discovered the plant was being filmed.

"The village head asked us who we were and what we were doing, and we tried to flee," Wang said. "Our car was chased and stopped by their vehicles, and I was slapped by the village head."

Wang became well-known in 2010 when he released Beijing Besieged by Waste, which showed how areas around the capital were being blighted by mounds of trash.

The documentary prompted the city's waste disposal authorities to regulate unofficial landfills and improve the sustainability of trash sites.

"The Plastic Kingdom, a follow-up on the waste problem, aims to focus people's attention on the garbage recycling industry, and will hopefully get the industry regulated," Wang said.

The film is now at the editing stage and is due to be completed in June. Wang plans to show it at film festivals at home and abroad.