Nearly everyday residents of the Meiyuan Community in the Fengtai District of Beijing will see a middle-aged man riding a tricycle and carrying a green wooden box. It would be understandable if one were to mistake him for a hawker recycling second-hand goods. However, he recycles not unwanted home appliances, but discarded batteries, of no use and potentially harmful to the environment.
The man is Wang Zixin. Now 37, he has long dedicated himself to environmental protection. Known as something of a pioneer in the industrialization of battery recycling, he founded the Beijing Donghua Xinxin Waste Battery Recycling Center, China's first licensed nonpublic enterprise in the field of battery recycling.
Economics and Environment
Wang resides in Xingong Village, Beijing's Fengtai District. In his modestly furnished home, an older computer is the family's most fiscally valuable possession. The backyard is filled with waste batteries that Wang has collected. Surveying the scene, one would be hard pressed to guess that in the 1990s Wang was a millionaire.
Beginning in the 1980s, many Chinese gave up stable jobs to seek their fortune in business. Wang was one of them. He made his first big mark in the building supply trade. At the same time, the issue of environmental contamination—a side effect of the China's rapid economic development—drew his attention and in the field of environmental protection he saw opportunity. Aware that some areas in northern China suffered from desertification, in 1998 Wang invested in a vegetation program in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. However, that venture eventually proved to be a failure. "I lost hundreds of thousands of yuan in that investment," Wang said. Despite that setback, he was thereafter committed to the cause of the environment.
In 1999, damage caused by discarded batteries became a hot topic among those Chinese concerned about the environment. Research indicates that deleterious substances contained in a button cell can pollute 600 cubic meters of water, and a deteriorated D-sized battery may render a square meter of soil useless. Heavy metals leaked from discarded batteries then contaminate underground water, subsequently poisoning fish, crops and, finally, humans. Each year more than 10 billion cells are consumed in China, with a total weight exceeding 200,000 tons. However, less than 2 percent of used cells are recycled. The rest are typically discarded like any other trash.
Due to the fact that there is no waste cell treatment plant in China, Wang conceived of the idea of battery recycling as a business. "Alkaline cells contain various kinds of metals, including 22 percent of zinc, 26 percent of manganese and 17 percent of iron," Wang said. "Accordingly, some 40,000 tons of zinc goes to waste along with cells randomly discarded every year. That's equal to the production volume of two zinc mines of average size. More importantly, these metals are all nonrenewable resources."
In the summer of 1999, with an aspiration to found a new industry, Wang came to Yixian County, Hebei Province, where he established China's first discarded battery treatment plant. He invested in the plant with funds totaling 7 million yuan, 1 million yuan of which he earned from his building supply business, with the balance borrowed from friends and relatives. But the road ahead was much rockier than he had foreseen. The plant was not permitted to operate, although its equipment had already been deployed. Due to the then incomplete technology, treating batteries in a fixed place generated fear that the plant might pollute the nearby Yi River. Thus the environmental department of Hebei did not ratify the project.
Wang failed once again. Without depression, however, he remained dedicated to protecting the environment. He was somewhat reminiscent of the persistent self-described "knight," Don Quixote, as created by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes. After his investment failed, Wang shifted his efforts to create greater public awareness of environmental protection.
The Clean Dream
In recent years Wang has committed all his energy to spreading awareness about recycling discarded cells among the public. From 2001 to the present, he has held countless exhibitions to popularize the concept, attracting nearly 100,000 visitors. On two hotlines set up in his house, he has responded to countless queries put forth by more than 5,000 people. Three years ago, he established the "Green Star" Battery Recycling Team, which has to date recruited more than 6,000 volunteers across the nation. He has produced 10,000 instructional posters, for which he was granted 30,000 yuan by the China Association for Science and Technology. And he invested more than 40,000 yuan of his own money. He now plans to deploy small battery-recycling receptacles around some residential areas of Beijing.
In addition, Wang has never ceased his endeavors to research battery treatment technology. He has designed a patented vacuum pyrogenic technology to treat waste cells, but as yet he has insufficient funds to implement the technology. To raise more capital, Wang sold his only car. Currently, his wife feeds the entire family with her salary of about 1,000 yuan per month. Even so, she never complains and is steadfast in her support. Not long ago, a magazine publisher intended to engage Wang as an editor for an in-depth research paper that Wang published on China Chemical Industry News. The job meant a good opportunity, especially for Wang, who was then unemployed with no income. However, the magazine required him to give up his business in battery recycling. Wang thus refused the job offer.
Today Wang remains dedicated to developing new technology for the industrialization of battery recycling. Thanks to the persistent endeavors of many environment lovers like Wang, increasing numbers of people have become aware and concerned, and now many participate in battery recycling and treatment. At present, battery-recycling receptacles have been installed in many communities in Beijing, and garbage bins especially for discarded cells are found on many roadsides in the city.
Wang Zixin recycles batteries at a gas station.
Community environmental volunteers recycle waste batteries.
Wang Zixin brings the idea of environmental protection to children.
(China Pictorial December 16, 2005)
