Educational Media Reviews Online

The Trash Trade is a thought provoking documentary illustrating everyday realities of globalization. The film focuses on the impact that transnational trade in garbage and industrial waste has on local governments, businesses, laborers, and citizens in China and Japan. Moving at a meandering pace through a series of scenarios loosely connected on the theme of the recycling trade between these countries, the film gradually reveals complexities inherent in waste management in today's world. Along the way a narrator introduces the stories of several Chinese and Japanese individuals working in this garbage trade. Speaking in English (translated from Japanese) the narrator outlines their situations in a "voice-over," while the people themselves speak in their native Chinese or Japanese, as the case may be, with English subtitles. Skillful construction of story lines allows understanding to develop without too much intervention on the part of the narrator, although sometimes visuals are used to show basic concepts, such as how processing scrap metal helps China make up for a lack of natural resources.

Recycling -- once a do-gooder's hobby -- has evolved to become a key component in economic growth, especially in developing nations. Although transnational recycling is regulated by the Basel Convention, protecting developing nations from becoming garbage dumps for hazardous materials, a black market of garbage peddling still thrives. This is illustrated in a segment showing the smuggling of discarded Japanese personal computers into Hong Kong with a final intended destination elsewhere in China. With a combination of treasure (gold, silver, copper) and poison (lead, other hazardous materials), discarded PCs may be attractive to smugglers, but their processing leads to serious ground water and soil pollution in China.

Although complex, the picture of globalization presented in "The Trash Trade" is not sinister. The film shows ordinary Chinese and Japanese laborers, businessmen, and government officials working together, negotiating, making difficult strategic decisions. The reality presented in this film is one of equals working across economic imbalances, rather than a dark tale of exploitation and depredation (such as is depicted in Darwin's Nightmare, 2006, directed by Hubert Sauper, another film about everyday realities of Globalization).

At the beginning of The Trash Trade it is surprising to learn that a municipal government in Japan is concerned that "garbage grabbers" are stealing piles of newspapers and magazines that local residents have placed out to be picked up for recycling. By the end, though, we know enough to understand why some Japanese communities are thinking about digging up old landfills to exploit "hidden treasures" buried there.

The Trash Trade is recommended for jr. high to adult audiences. It is especially recommended for use in stimulating discussion in such areas as globalization, economic imbalances among nations, recycling, business strategies, Sino-Japanese relations, Asian studies. Further, the film can serve as a primary source for research projects in those and related fields.