Meet the scrap collectors working in tough conditions in Beijing

THEY are the unknown army of workers who spend their days sorting through piles of rubbish and scrap. These stunning photos reveal the brutal life of China’s toughest workers.

Plastic mannequin heads and other items lay on the ground before being sorted and recycled. Photo: Kevin Frayer.

THEY are the unknown army for workers who spend their days sorting through piles of rubbish and scrap.

It’s a side of China you won’t see on tourist brochures.

The workers from all over China endure long hours of physically tough work, often in freezing conditions, with many people living below the poverty line.

To top it off the children of many of these migrant workers aren’t entitled to Beijing’s public schooling and private education is unaffordable.

In China it is difficult to claim social services outside the province you are registered in. This has created an under class of migrant workers in wealthier provinces such as Beijing, who have moved to the city because there is more work there than in other parts of the country.

A worker sorts plastic and other materials ready to be recycled. Photo: Kevin Frayer.

This is the reality of life for thousands of people who make up Beijing’s scrap peddlers — a group of people who live in the city limits yet remain a world away from the general population.

A worker watches television with her grandson in the Dong Xiao Kou scrap village. Picture: Kevin Frayer.

Getty photographer Kevin Frayer travelled to Dong Xiao Kou village to capture life first-hand in the place unofficially known as “scrap city”.

This village is made up mainly of families of poor migrant workers who have come from surrounding provinces to work.

Scrap peddlars survive on recycling goods collected in China's capital. Picture: Kevin Frayer.

This is the daily reality of life for Beijing's scrap metal collectors. Photo by Kevin Frayer.

The workers, who number in the tens of thousands survive by recycling goods collected in China’s capital.

The Asian powerhouse has become the world’s biggest generator of solid waste and as the country’s population and economy continue to grow, the peddlers are integral to the waste and recycling management system in major cities.

As China's population and economy grow the peddlars are integral to the waste and recycling management system in major cities. Photo by Kevin Frayer.

Dong Xiao Kou village is home to tens of thousands of scrap peddlars surviving on recycling goods collected in China's capital.

One woman raised in nearby Henan province but who has worked collecting scrap for seven years told Time Magazine she spent hours collecting rubbish and sorting through appliances, plastic and metal to be recycled.

Workers load a machine with plastic as it is chopped into small pieces before being recycled.

A Chinese worker looks out from his shop as goods to be recycled are piled in front.

How much she receive depends on how much she and other workers collect.

The living conditions are also tough.

Those families who are able to, give around half of their income to the local laoban, or boss, for a place to stay and a chance at sorting the incoming scrap, Time reports.

A worker shovels plastic after it is chopped into small pieces before being recycled.

A labourer stands on a truck with appliances to be recycled.

Others live in temporary shelters built from resources they can scavenge.

But these workers face an uncertain future.

According to the BBC, the government has begun work to clear Dong Xiao Kou village to make space for cleaner streets and more housing.

Workers load scrap metal onto a truck to be recycled.

Discarded computer and electronics parts wait to be recycled mostly by immigrant workers.

While some factories used for processing scrap have since moved, villagers remain and wait until they are forced to move on.

For villagers like Ms Liu, 43, originally from Henan province the future looks uncertain.

Dong Xiao Kou village is made up mostly of families of poor migrant workers that have come from surrounding provinces to work.

Chinese laborers organise old televisions and computers to be recycled in Dong Xiao Kou village.

She told the BBC: “I’m not happy about my family’s current situation. We are too poor. We don’t even have a furnace. It’s ice cold in the house but we don’t have any other choice. We have to be here to make a living.”

A worker lights a cigarette as he waits for a delivery of recyclable goods in Dong Xiao Kou village, Beijing.

Another villager said life was tough.

“Look, I don’t even have much going on here. The toughest thing about living here is that I know the moment I stop working, my family won’t have food on the table.”

A labourer climbs to fix an electrical cable in the village filled with peddlars.