While Europe's leaders struggle with bailouts, bankruptcies and a possibly failing currency, the fallout is being felt by the poorest on the streets of Hong Kong.
The army of elderly people who collect waste paper to eke out a meagre existence faces a financial battering as the price of what the rich world throws away in the form of packaging slumps.
The effect hit home to Mrs Lau, who is in her 50s. She works as a janitor but spent yesterday's public holiday rummaging for cardboard in a Lan Kwai Fong back alley.
'I used to earn HK$1 for a kilogram of cardboard, but it has been selling for 70 cents in the past two months,' she said. 'I can collect only about HK$20 worth of cardboard in a day. I may not earn as much now, but I have to do it if I want to eat.'
Another collector, who chose not to be named, in D'Aguilar Street in Lan Kwai Fong, in his 60s, said: 'I can only earn about 70 cents per kilogram now, but I have no choice. I have to make a living.'
The drop in waste-paper prices is being felt across the globe, as analysts forecast a subdued pre-Christmas peak season from July, which affects demand for key users of recycled packaging such as toy and electronics manufacturers.
And this affects the 'street' price of waste paper and cardboard in Hong Kong and Europe - especially Britain and the Netherlands, which are Europe's biggest exporters of waste paper and cardboard to China.