US trash is treasure in Indonesian village
BANGUN, Indonesia - Few Americans have heard of this village, wedged between peanut farms and a paper mill on the island of Java. But the people here have gained an intimate familiarity with the United States - by rooting around in its trash.
They have combed through ripped sleeves of Oreos, empty packages of Trader Joe's meatballs, discarded "Lord of the Rings" DVDs and dented plastic shampoo bottles. They have even discovered the occasional $20 bill.
"It's amazing sometimes," marveled 43-year-old Eko Wahyudi, "what American people throw away."
He is one of the many scrap dealers in Bangun, a village of 1,500 families at the receiving end of a transoceanic waste trade worth more than $1.5 billion a year.
The U.S. and other wealthy nations have long sent cargo ships of scrap to Asia, where it is sorted and recycled to fuel industries hungry for raw materials. Indonesia imports large amounts of used paper to
