Cambodian street pickers turn waste into survival profits. Channel News Asia, October 26, 2016.
Sophana works through the night sorting through garbage in one of Phnom Penh’s busiest bar districts.
PHNOM PENH: On any typical night around the heaving bars full of tourists and female workers, street pickers lurk in the shadows.
They are children, their parents and the elderly. They are grimy, hungry and desperate.
Phon Sophana is one of them. He and his family, including his wife and two young children, live on the street, foraging a living by searching through discarded waste for items of value, normally plastic bottles and cans.
They work through the night, mostly in the darkness, but all around the clock if they have the stamina.
“There are a lot of competitors,” the 31-year-old said. “If I can go early enough, it would be lucky. If the others go before me, they would collect everything first.
“Life is tough here.”
Read the complete article.
