One man's trash is another man's treasure

AMERICAN journalist Adam Minter's idea of junk is a whole lot different from yours.

To you, it might be what your mother threatens you'll be collecting if you don't study hard enough. Or the stuff you throw out in your annual Chinese New Year spring-cleaning effort. But to Minter, all that trash can account for billions of dollars and even boost a country's economy.

"I don't know about you, but I've never seen trash worth US$100,000," says the 43-year-old who has spent most of his life studying and reporting on the global recycling industry.