Meet the ‘millionaire trash collector’

Armed with a trash-picking claw and a loudspeaker, and donning an orange T-shirt with anti-littering slogans, Zhong Congrong prepares to scour the streets of his neighborhood at 8 o’clock in the morning. Known as “the millionaire trash collector,” the 51-year-old business owner — who has a hand in real estate, car dealerships, and material-processing companies […]

Armed with a trash-picking claw and a loudspeaker, and donning an orange T-shirt with anti-littering slogans, Zhong Congrong prepares to scour the streets of his neighborhood at 8 o’clock in the morning. Known as “the millionaire trash collector,” the 51-year-old business owner — who has a hand in real estate, car dealerships, and material-processing companies — has been cleaning the streets every day for the past three years.

As he looks for empty bottles and plastic bags, his voice blares through the loudspeaker, imploring people to take action to protect the environment.

Zhong’s behaviour has attracted considerable attention and controversy from the public, with people wondering whether he might be more self-promoting than altruistic. The businessman, however, insists that his motives are genuine, and that he shouldn’t be judged because of his wealth.

“Whether we throw away or pick up trash is unrelated to our academic degree, cultural background, age, or socio-economic status,” Zhong told Sixth Tone.

At first, Zhong’s wife and children felt embarrassed by his eccentric behavior, which drew its fair share of negative attention from the media. For a while, they even refused to walk next to him in public. Later, however, their attitudes changed, as they realized that their neighbourhood was indeed becoming cleaner, and Zhong was being praised by their neighbours. Now, Zhong’s wife has become an anti-littering campaigner herself — she’ll even tell people off if she catches them throwing trash on the ground.

“The environment remains dirty no matter how many trash collectors there are,” Zhong said. “The only [solution] is to remind people of the consequences of littering and hope that it might alter their behaviour.”

Culled from sixthtone.com