The Chinese Town Where Old Christmas Lights Go

retroworks writes "Shanghai based reporter Adam Minter visits where recycled Christmas Tree lighting goes in China. Visiting Shijao, the town known as the Mecca for Christmas tree light recycling, he finds good news. The recycling practices in China have really cleaned up. Plastic casings, which were once burned, are now recycled into shoe soles in a wet process. Minter concludes that even if you try to recycle your wire in the U.S., the special equipment and processes for Christmas light recycling have been perfected in China 'to the benefit of the environment, and pocketbooks, in both countries.'"

Re:First

[zill]

Exactly. Human soles are eternal after all.

"the Mecca for Christmas tree light recycling"

[not_surt]

Surely in this case "the Jerusalem for Christmas tree light recycling" would be more fitting?

Cue whiny fighting...

[RobinEggs]

Now we'll get to listen to conservative bitching about overregulation and how without so many damn environmental laws that recycling could happen here. Then the liberals will answer that corporations would never pay a living wage, or even minimum wage, to do that here when it can be done by miserable overworked hut dwellers in China - environmental laws or not.

They're both probably right, and both answers make me equally depressed. Exporting work and materials that American liberals won't allow here because of well-meaning but often moronic regulations, but which American conservatives probably wouldn't do here anyway because they're cheap fucks.

I need a drink.

Re:wow

[PeeAitchPee]

A Christmas tree is a completely secular symbol, and you are a retard. That is all.

The market is collective planning

[mangu]

well-meaning but often moronic regulations

There are people who don't realize how immensely detailed regulations must be to work. When regulations don't let recyclers release some toxic waste the result is that everything becomes toxic waste.

Unfortunately those people didn't learn from history. The theory was that a well planned and regulated economy would be more efficient than capitalism, and too many people cannot see that things don't work that way.

Countries with planned economies could never make detailed enough plans for it to work efficiently. If you do not produce enough six-millimeter bolts with hex heads you will not be able to make enough 1/4 HP electric motors so you will not have enough refrigerators.

When you consider all the different products an industrial economy needs you would need the whole population of the country working in the plans to make sure all the items needed will be available.

That's what's called "capitalism". A feedback system where the production of the economy is dynamically adjusted as needed. There's a control variable to allow one to compare the relative urgency in producing each item, this variable is called "price".

Government regulation should be limited to overall guiding principles, not detailed specifications.