'Smart Recycling' to escape poverty

Fang Hong, a college graduate, owns a business in her hometown in Yuexi county, which is administered by Anqing, in East China's Anhui province. Fang attended the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) in 2013. During the fair, she was amazed by the creative crafts and decorations made from recycled agricultural and forestry-production waste. Fang in 2014 established a company in Yuexi county, and, since then, has led her employees in the production and selling of crafts made from recycled materials. She has provided jobs to people from impoverished families, to help them shake off poverty and live a better life.

Fang was born in 1989 in Dushan, a village in Yuexi county's Xiangchang town. She became a college teacher, in Shanghai, after she graduated in 2012. The following year, she went to Guangzhou, in South China's Guangdong province, to attend a communication activity hosted by a local school. While she was in Guangzhou, she attended the 114th Canton Fair (held in 2013). At the fair, she was attracted by crafts made from logs. Different from decorations made from glass or metal, the wooden crafts gave her a feeling of "being close tonature." The crafts reminded her of trees and flowers growing vigorously in her hometown.

Fang returned to Xiangchang in February 2014. She established a company and recruited a team to launch a project, with the purpose of "making good use of recycled materials, and developing the materials into crafts from creative designs." Fang's team recycled waste, such as straw, fruit vines, branches of tea trees and mulberry trees, and they used the materials to make decorative crafts and furniture, including small tables, stools and folding screens.

"We use recycled materials to reduce pollution caused by agricultural and forestry production. We invite folk artists and craftsmen, and we cooperate with fine arts workshops of high schools, to make beautiful and creative designs of our products," Fang says.

After six years of hard work, Fang's company has developed approximately 3,000 products. "At the beginning, I started the business because I was very interested in crafts, which looked environmentally friendly. During the years my business gradually grew, I realized we could truly help solve pollution in the countryside. Besides earning profits, I hope my business will have more value in advancing ecological and social development of my hometown," Fang explains.

"We allow employees to work from home. We give them raw materials and visit their houses to collect the finished products. In this way, disabled persons, who have difficulty in walking, or left-behind women, who need to stay at home to look after their families, can balance the time they spend working and handling housework. Working from home makes it easier and more convenient for employees who have special needs.Fang has promoted the idea of "smart recycling" to residents of Yuexi county. The villagers have learned that waste from agricultural and forestry production, which they normally burned and/or buried, can be turned into valuable decorations. To help the villagers earn a better living, Fang's company has employed 600- plus workers, more than half of whom are left-behind women. Fang has helped 90 registered impoverished households, in Yuexi county, increase their incomes and escape poverty.

"What's more," Fang adds, "my company provides subsidies to employees from poverty-stricken families. We pay portions of their medical-treatment fees, and we purchase rice and vegetables, grown by villagers from impoverished families, to cook food for our staff, so those villagers can have extra income. These seemingly 'small deeds' can help people in my hometown live a better life. This is another goal I want to fulfill by running my business."