Stop being a ragpicker!

For the good of our shared environment, please stop sorting your garbage.

The picture is of my ragpicker in Boshan, Shandong. He made his living from items he could sell to recyclers.

Do you think I would cheat him by not giving him glass bottles and aluminum cans? Isn’t that what Americans do in their homes? We become ragpickers in order to deprive ragpickers of opportunities.

Stop! Throw away those aluminum cans! Make your local land fill a gold mine for a company willing to invest in AI and sorting equipment.

At home you sort out plastic or aluminum. But an industrial garbage mining company can also recycle the tantalum and the lithium. Make it worth their while.

Stop being an in-home ragpicker. Give the industry a chance to develop.