Chinese scavenger ‘loses temper and damages 30,000 yuan hi-tech bin that stops him picking out rubbish’

A scavenger who makes a meagre living selling rubbish he finds at a popular tourist site was reportedly detained by police and charged with damaging a hi-tech rubbish bin valued at 30,000 yuan (HK$36,000), mainland media reports.

He reportedly lost his temper and pushed one of the new “smart” solar-powered waste bins into West Lake in the city of Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, because they make it impossible for him to pick out discarded rubbish, the news website Thepaper.cn reported on Friday.

The man, 43, originally from Shandong province, who been unable to find work in the city, had been earning a small amount of money selling the rubbish left by tourists at the lake until the regional government installed the new bins.

They are six times the size of the old bins and use solar power to work a mechanical compressor that crushes rubbish placed inside. They make it impossible for him to pick out tins and other items to resell.

He reportedly lost his temper after a drinks can he thought had been discarded was picked up by its owner and thrown into a new bin.