Karung guni men struggle with low profits, dwindle in numbers as Singaporeans purchase fewer used items
At a flea market in Woodlands, vendors struggled to sell their wares over the Chinese New Year holiday as a relentless downpour dampened spirits and kept customers away. For these vendors, who are traditional scrap dealers – better known as karung guni men – a dwindling customer base, low profits and waning interest are increasingly affecting their declining trade.
The Market Gaia Guni at Woodlands Industrial Park, which houses 15 stalls, is only open on weekends and public holidays. The vendors collect used items including clothes, electronics, and antiques on weekdays and resell them when the market is open. While the market saw sizable crowds during previous Chinese New Years and some other holidays, peddlers said overall profits are meagre. “For those eight days a month (that our stalls are open), we make around S$1,000. After paying rent, I earn about S$600 to S$800,” said an elderly dealer who has been working in the trade for more than 40 years. “For the other days that I’m not here, I work elsewhere. No choice because on weekdays nobody comes here. Some vendors don’t get much business at all and it’s not worth it for them to set up shop here so they (leave the trade),” he added.
“Karung guni” means “gunny sack” in Malay, which in the past was hauled on the backs of local rag-and-bone men as they visited homes door-to-door while sounding their horns. They traditionally collected old newspapers, used clothing, discarded electrical appliances and other unwanted items that can be resold. Today, due to the gruelling physical work and low payoffs, many of these scrap dealers have given up on the industry. Some vendors staying on in the trade said they are too old to change jobs. “I’m already old, I don’t want to change jobs. Business is not great but I’m getting by,” said another stall owner at the Woodlands market, who earns a few hundred dollars a month. “But a lot of my colleagues have changed jobs, because they can’t do physical work anymore,” he added. Shrinking interest in buying used items among Singaporeans continues to remain a challenge, said vendors at the Sungei Road Green Hub, where shops offer an immense selection of secondhand ware such as clocks, sculptures, bicycle helmets and other knick-knacks. These karung guni men are hoping that younger Singaporeans can jazz up the trade and revive the industry. “Our trade is getting smaller and smaller,” said a stall owner. “We hope that this culture can continue but it now depends on the younger generation to use new ideas. It’s not up to us.”
Karung guni trade on brink of extinction as scrap industry bears brunt of Covid-19
A rag-and-bone man sorting out his cardboard at Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 on July 30, 2020
Homemaker Debbie Cheang wonders why she hardly sees any rag-and-bone man making his rounds in her Sengkang East estate. “I usually put waste paper, bottles and milk cartons in the recycling bin downstairs, which the karung guni usually doesn’t want,” the 46-year-old said.
For Dr Samuel Chng, online marketplaces like Carousell have made it easier for his family to get rid of unwanted clothes and electronics. Said the 31-year old research fellow at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD): “I can often get a higher price and it’s more convenient than waiting for a karung guni to visit.” That karung guni man might never come by again. Mr Andy Lee, 49, the owner of MK Hardware, a scrap dealer located in Yishun Industrial Park, said many rag-and-bone men have given up their trade as Covid-19 impacted their earnings since early this year. “At least 18 lorries used to come by daily and sell their scraps to me, now the number has fallen to four. Even then, they come once every two days,” Mr Lee said.
The scrap industry has been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with dealers unable to export their goods due to lockdowns in importing countries and global travel restrictions. The demand for certain items such as clothes and electronics items has also fallen. This, in turn, has affected the livelihoods of the scrap dealers’ suppliers — the rag-and-bone men and women who scour residential estates and shops for cardboards, aluminium cans, newspapers and old electronic appliances.
The millennial karung guni man who set up his own company to ‘make something of himself’
Bryan Peh has been working in the recycling industry for more than eight years and also picked up acting on the side
When thinking of karung guni (literally Malay for “gunny sack”), or karang guni, you're more than likely to think of the weathered uncles and aunties strolling through HDB corridors toting a horn and trolley. Many of us would also be familiar with their drawly shout: “Karung guni, buay bor zua gu sa kor, ray-dio-dian-see-kee”, which is Hokkien for “Karung guni, newspapers and old clothes, spoilt radios, televisions", with the sound of their horn echoing across the block.
However, Bryan Peh’s the furthest thing from that image, being significantly younger and all that. He was sprightly and delightfully chatty, even on a Tuesday morning, when most people would still be fighting off sleep while at work. Apparently, not a lot of people could believe that a young person would be a karung guni man either. “When I go out and meet friends or friends of friends and they ask me for my profession, I would call myself a karung guni," he shared. “They would question me, asking: ‘Why are you making fun of them? It's not a joke, you know.’ And I have to say ‘I am a karung guni’ and show them proof of my job before they realise, they had misunderstood me.”
The 29-year-old recently talked more about his eight-year journey in the recycling industry – and his foray into acting – with CNA Lifestyle at his family’s home in Tampines. Peh mentioned that this was, in fact, his first job out of university – he had graduated from the Singapore Institute of Management – Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (SIM-RMIT) with a degree in business management. So, what got a millennial into the recycling industry, which is typically dominated by older folks? “I couldn’t get employed for a year, so my dad was like, 'You know what? You should help out at the store', and that’s how I got started.” He eventually learned that the skills and know-how he obtained at university were also helpful in the recycling industry. That’s why he left his father’s company Ace Recycle Trading to set up his own, Earth Recycling Services, in January of this year.
At the Bottom of the Recycling Trade: Karung Gunis and Cardboard Collectors
“Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Big Fish Eat Little Fish” (17.3.859) In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
After 4pm and over the next two hours before the karung guni man called it a day, elderly cardboard collectors began trickling in from the two roads that lead to the collection point. Bathed in the golden rays of the evening sun, the old folks pushed their cartful of flattened cardboard slowly forward with a doggedness that belied their frail and scrawny appearance. There were both men and women plying their trade. Their shriveled skin, withered arms and grey hair are telling signs of their advanced age. Ah Lan, whose husband is an amputee, is 86; auntie Aw, who came all the way from Whampoa to Toa Payoh to sell her cardboard, is 77; another white-haired woman who is all skin and bones, spoke of attending a briefing for the “Pioneer Generation” on the coming Saturday; and there’s 70-something uncle Lee, who is hard of hearing and had to be repeatedly reminded of an approaching lunch event organized by a group of good Samaritans.
For every kilogram of cardboard, the elderly get 10 cents in return. The old folks consider this an attractive rate in comparison to what other karung gunis pay – sometimes as little as 5 cents per kilogram of cardboard. As the petite auntie Aw walked past, smiling brightly, I saw two two-dollar notes in her now empty cart.If those were her day’s earnings, it meant she must have collected and sold around 40 kilograms of cardboard that day. At the collection point, the tanned and bespectacled karung guni Mr Lim was busy operating a forklift to stack up piles of cardboard. He said he in turn sells the collected stuff to a big pa per trading firm and makes a few cents per kilogram of cardboard. Now in his forties, Mr Lim, who has been in this line for twenty over years, belongs to a dwindling pool of karung gunis still hanging on to a dying trade (watch video).
Until the late 1990s, there were about 3,000 self-employed rag and bone men in Singapore. In their heyday, karung gunis could make as much as $500 a day; some even went from rags to riches. The karung guni industry went downhill from there. In 1999, Community Development Councils (CDCs) and recycling firms teamed up to offer door-to-door recycling service. Two years later, in 2001, the National Recycling Program kicked off. Under the program, public waste collectors or karung gunis must work together with registered recycling firms to offer door-to-door recycling. Rivalry between the old economy karung gunis and new recycling companies soon heated up. Partnership between CDCs, town councils and large recycling firms such as SembWaste, whose subsidiary Semac was awarded a huge $3.3 million contract to collect and dispose the waste of CapitalLand Group, severely threatened the livelihood of karung gunis. There were cases of karung gunis beating up employees of recycling firms, as well as frequent incidents of karung gunis “stealing” bags with recyclables collected by employees of recycling firms.
No jump in sales for karung guni men
Mr Lim Teck Seng, a rag-and-bone man, standing atop a pile of cardboard boxes that he collected. More foreign workers have been muscling into the trade here. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
THE spring cleaning done ahead of the Chinese New Year used to mean good pickings for the rag-and-bone man. But they have fallen on hard times as foreign workers scavenging for throwaways are muscling in on their turf - going door to door, paying residents for items such as newspapers and electronics, which they resell to second-hand dealers. Some of these foreigners hold day jobs here and moonlight as rag-and-bone men, but Indonesians, for example, have also been known to come here on social visit passes to do such work.
Local rag-and-bone men such as Poh Tian Cai, 75, have had their incomes reduced as a result. For the past 30 years, he has plied his trade in Katong, using his bicycle outfitted with a carriage in front to collect recyclables, but times have become harder in the past two years. 'I am old now and cannot move as fast. Some nights, I see young men with baskets on their bicycles - about 50 of them a week - taking my cardboard boxes and stealing my rice bowl,' he said. The $700 he used to earn every month has shrunk to about half that, he said. Rag-and-bone men like him, known as karung guni men, are not regulated by any government agency, but their foreign counterparts are breaking the law by moonlighting in the trade. The Ministry of Manpower said these individuals will have flouted the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act and their work permit conditions. The ministry said foreign workers are to work only for the employer and in the occupation stated in their work permits. Another rag-and-bone man who wanted to be known only as Winston said that foreign rivals aside, recycling has also eaten into his livelihood. The 46-year-old said: 'Nowadays, people would rather recycle than sell to me. Soon, there won't be many of us left.' Business has been especially poor for Mr Michael Satha, 41, whose business is online. He started ragnbone.com.sg in 2003 after doing it for four years offline. He said: 'Business was good at first, but now, goods like plasma televisions are getting cheaper, so even if you export them, nobody wants them.'
Mr Eugene Tay, director of Green Future Solutions, a consultancy that promotes environmental awareness, said rag-and-bone men used to play an important role in waste management, but now, with recycling programmesin housing estates, their roles have diminished. Home owners The Straits Times spoke to seemed sympathetic. Joo Chiat resident John Tan, 65, said he was aware that rag-and-bone men and foreign workers had been picking off his trash, 'but as long as it gets disposed of, it is fine'. Madam Tee Ah Mei, 71, who lives a few streets away, said she holds on to the items she wants to discard until her regular rag-and-bone man comes around. 'Our rag-and-bone men are not doing this out of choice. If I can help them I will.'
No job protection for elderly cardboard collectors and karung gunis
The 67-year-old woman, who has been collecting cardboard in Chinatown for around 18 years, lamented that more Chinese nationals have been competing with her for discarded cardboard of late, drawing up “turfs” that are off limits to her and even threatened to hit her. These foreign cardboard collectors, according to the old lady, appeared to be less than 60 years old.
Karung gunis who buy cardboard from scavengers said that the foreign cardboard collectors hold other low paying jobs and are moonlighting for extra income. Some may not even have a work permit. As early as 2002, the Straits Times reported on foreigners encroaching on the “turf” of local karung gunis, causing the latter’s earnings to dwindle by up to 40% (“Karung guni men and foreign workers in tussle over trash,” 13 Oct 2002). Many karung gunis then joined a newly formed Waste Management and Recycling Association to get their voices heard.
Mr Toh, who had 60 karung gunis working for him, said: “We hope the association can liaise with the Ministry of Manpower to help us deal with these illegal foreign workers” (“Karung guni men ally with recycling firms,” 28 Sep 2002). It seems that Mr Toh’s hopes were dashed. In 2009, the problem was again reported in ST. Said Mr Tan, whose earnings had dropped because of foreigners entering the trade: “We local karung guni men follow a code. We don’t go into an area if another karung guni man is there. We respect his being there first and we go elsewhere … But the foreigners don’t care. They barge in. That’s when the fighting starts.”
Jio A Karang Guni Uncle To Your House To Recycle Stuff
Remember the occasional long drawn hollers of ‘Karaaang Guniii’, peppered by the iconic honks of rubber & metal horns? Rag-and-bone men – fondly termed as Karang Guni uncles & aunties – exist in our memories as hardworking individuals who tour our heartlands with trolleys of recycled loot in tow.
Going door-to-door calling out for used newspapers and old gadgets, they are our unsung heroes when it comes to recycling. However, it is sometimes difficult to predict the schedules of our Karang Guni crews. Well, very soon you will be able to summon one to your doorstep with the help of this new Telegram initiative. A Telegram bot to hook residents up with a Karang Guni of their own, has been created by NUS Social Impact Catalyst recently.
The idea is streamlined and fairly simple to execute. Going by a Bot username of @RecyclablesBot, users can enter their postal code for an eligibility check. Following that, one can then schedule the collection of recyclable items straight from their homes. In addition to that, a scripted message from the bot will inform residents on what incentives may be earned for their recyclables. While the exact rewards have yet to be disclosed, we believe that recycling in itself is already a fulfilling endeavour.
Karang Gunis: The Decline of Singapore’s Recyclable Collectors
Karang Gunis often use pickup trucks to transport their materials
Like many Singaporeans this past few weeks, I’ve found myself working from home. This extra time at home reminded me of a simpler time when I was in Primary/Secondary school. Not a popular kid by any stretch of the imagination, computer games and homework filled up most of my time then. One thing that I got used to also was the sound of the Karang Guni.
“Karang Guni, toot, toot, toot”, the Karang Guni would call out with his honk to announce his presence in the HDB block. Households like mine would then be ready at the door to get the Karang Guni’s attention when he passes by. Newspapers, cardboard, or even spoilt electronic appliances are some common items sold. Now, the sounds of the Karang Guni are silent as the trade is declining. While not a new topic (see here and here), I recently concluded a research project with GA Circular for a client on Singapore’s recycling ecosystem which led me face-to-face with the realities of Singapore’s recycling situation. I’d like to share a bit about what we found.
Before we dive into the reasons affecting the decline of the Karang Guni, we must first understand their background. Karang Gunis, meaning gunny-sack man in Malay, are usually older folks who either go around and buy recyclables from households or collect recyclables off the street. Used to be a common sight in HDB estates, the number of Karang Gunis has declined dramatically over the years. Stakeholders we talked to estimated about a 50% decrease in Karang Guni over the last 3 years. One junk shop even mentioned that they used to have hundreds of karang guni selling materials to them everyday. But now, that number has dwindled to about 40. By far, most of the materials collected are paper (e.g. white paper, newspapers, and especially cardboards). While plastics (e.g PET bottles, shampoo containers) are rarely collected, if ever.
Support scrap sector, karung guni man
As the economy recovers, Singapore has acknowledged the importance of environmental sustainability for a low-carbon and resource-constrained future. While action has been taken to better tackle food wastage, I believe more can still be done to reduce general waste.
The amount of waste disposed of in Singapore has increased seven times over the past 40 years. This not only wastes precious resources, but also contributes to Singapore's carbon emissions - both the energy needed to sort waste and the emissions from incineration. Beyond making blue recycling bins more accessible, one thing that could help to increase recycling in Singapore is to provide more support for the scrap industry and karung guni men. Recycling bins can be easily contaminated, and Singapore has a long way to go in terms of educating the public on what items can be recycled, and how to clean them. With a karung guni man, recycling becomes more straightforward as he is able to immediately filter the items received.
However, there has been a drop in prices of scrap material. This has contributed to the declining number of karung guni men. As the Government moves to continue promoting recycling and sustainability in Singapore, perhaps it can look into providing more support for the scrap industry amid this pandemic. By providing support for existing recycling mechanisms, I believe Singapore will be a step closer to reaching its goal of becoming a zero-waste nation.
Could rag-and-bone men make Singapore a zero waste nation?
The neighbourhood rag-and-bone man, known as karung guni, collects more waste than the blue recycling bins dotted around Singapore. Are they the secret weapon to dealing with the city-state’s huge waste problem?
For Singaporeans who have grown up in the country’s public housing estates, the rag-and-bone men who come around to collect unwanted household items are a familiar sight. Known as the karung guni, they collect almost nine times more recyclables than national recycling efforts, it was revealed at this year’s Eco Action Day, where industry leaders and government representatives discussed how these informal waste collectors could drive the future of recycling.
As Singapore seeks to reduce its waste and promote a circular economy in the Year Towards Zero Waste, karung guni men have a role to play in closing the waste loop, said Tan Meng Dui, chief executive of the National Environment Agency (NEA), at the 13th annual Eco Action Day Roundtable, hosted by imaging and electronics company Ricoh and co-organised by Eco-Business. During a panel discussion that capped off the event, Tan revealed that a whopping 90 per cent of domestic recyclables are collected by karung guni and carnival collection drives, while blue recycling bins account for the other 10 per cent. “I think there’s scope for us to try to improve this sector. If they are doing good work you want to organise them better. Start-ups could have a role here to connect consumers and collectors,” he added.
An NEA spokesperson elaborated: “We are open to new initiatives, especially privately funded ones, that can better leverage on technology, as well as optimise the flexibility and business networks of the informal recycling sector.” As the early pioneers of recycling culture in Singapore, karung guni men typically go door-to-door to collect newspapers, electronics and other unwanted items once a week. Unlike the commingled recycling bins in residential estates, karung guni are already familiar with what types of trash can be recycled and the need to prevent cross-contamination of waste.
Why doesn’t recycling rope in the karang guni?
A karang guni, or rag-and-bone man, pushes a trolley loaded with scrap materials on a street in Singapore. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
On Saturday (Apr 27), Nee Soon East, led by Member of Parliament Louis Ng, pledged to eliminate the use of plastic disposables from meetings and events over the next two years.
The community also announced a range of efforts to curb waste as part of its newly launched zero-waste master plan, including innovative ways for residents to communicate with each other when they have excess food to give away through the use of Telegram. Such local efforts to reduce waste ought to be commended. Unfortunately, recycling woes continue to plague Singapore in its designated year of climate change action.
Despite efforts to improve awareness, our overall recycling rate dipped slightly from 61 per cent in 2017 to 60 per cent in 2018, according to statistics from the National Environment Agency (NEA). While the household recycling rate increased marginally from 21 per cent in 2017 to 22 per cent in 2018, these numbers need to show a significant improvement for Singapore to meet its 30 per cent recycling rate target by 2030.
Karung Guni: The Rag and Bone Men
The practice of Karung guni is common in Singapore. Its practitioners are a modern form of rag and bone men that visit residences door-to-door. They can either walk along corridors (if that particular HDB estate has a covered carpark) or for certain HDB estates where the carpark is right under the HDB blocks, walk through the carpark downstairs honking a horn. However, around landed properties, they may drive around in a lorry with a horn attached to it, instead of going door-to-door. They make visits in carts, collecting old newspapers and other unwanted items. These will be resold at specialized markets and eventually recycled or reused.
"Karung guni" is a Malay phrase for gunny sack, which was used in the past to hold the newspapers. The karung guni men would haul the heavy sacks on their backs as they walked their rounds to do the collection. Today, most of them use a hand truck instead. These people can be distinguished by their use of horns or (rarely) hand bell and shouts of "karung guni, poh zhua gu sa kor, pai leh-lio, dian si ki..." ("Rag and bone, newspapers and old clothes, spoilt radios, televisions" in Singlish and Hokkien) when making their rounds. Depending on the person, a nominal fee is paid for the quantity of newspapers or unwanted items sold.
The karung guni industry is made highly profitable due to the dense urban nature of Singapore, where hundreds of public housing Housing Development Board apartment units are located in one block, with often a dozen blocks in each housing estate. This gives the karung guni men large access to sources of scrap. There are reported stories of rag-to-riches, karung guni men who have become millionaires just from the karung guni business. Today, however, competition is usually too great.
Sungei Road Thieves’ Market @ The Green Hub
Sungei Road Green Hub is about 250 metres from the original flea market
As a street vendor, Jason Goh was known to sell some unusual wares. There were antiques, a collection of Burmese jade, and fossilised elephant sperm. Four years after his stall had to close, he says those stones with elephant sperm inside are “still very saleable”. As he used to claim, the stones serve a useful purpose: “If you work … your boss automatically would like you. You go anywhere — girls would like to make friends with you.”
This former Sungei Road market vendor is one of many who have struggled to find a new home after the demise of Singapore’s most famous flea market. Where it used to be, with its 80 years of history — of people hustling for a better life — is now a barricaded grass patch. But recently, some vendors like Goh have set up shop not far away. And they are trying to keep memories of the place alive. Singapore’s oldest and largest flea market began in the 1930s as a trading spot by the banks of Rochor River. From the 1940s onwards, it became popular for its cheap goods. The vendors used to start operating in the late afternoon, offering an array of items, some of which were considered a steal while others were literally stolen or smuggled, leading to the market’s moniker, the Thieves’ Market. At its height, there were more than 300 vendors.
In July 2017, when it had to make way for an MRT station as well as future residential and commercial developments, there were 200 vendors. Some had worked there for decades. Many of the vendors have since retired, while others took their business to night markets or took on odd jobs. Many still missed their former lives. “My heart ached,” ex-vendor David Sein says about how he felt when the market closed. So when the 58-year-old saw two vacant Housing and Development Board shop units near the old market last March, he asked The Saturday Movement, a charity, to help rent the units for a group of vendors. Six months later, the Sungei Road Green Hub was born at Kelantan Road. “They (the charity) know all these people have got no place to go. Most are already old,” says Goh, one of around 20 vendors there.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
If you have heard of something called the “waste hierarchy,” then you may be wondering what that means. It is the order of priority of actions to be taken to reduce the amount of waste generated and to improve overall waste management processes and programs. The waste hierarchy consists of 3 R’s - Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. Commonly called the “three R’s” of waste management, this waste hierarchy is the guidance suggested for creating a sustainable life. You might be wondering how you can incorporate these principles into your daily life.
They are not that hard to implement. All you need is to bring a small change in your daily lifestyle to reduce waste so that less amount of it goes to the landfill that can reduce your carbon footprint. “The three R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle – all help to cut down on the amount of waste we throw away. They conserve natural resources, landfill space and energy. Plus, the three R’s save land and money that communities must use to dispose of waste in landfills. Siting a new landfill has become difficult and more expensive due to environmental regulations and public opposition.“
By refusing to buy items that you don’t need, reusing items more than once and disposing the items that are no longer in use at appropriate recycling centers, you can contribute towards a healthier planet:
- The First ‘R’ Reduce - The concept of reducing what is produced and what is consumed is essential to the waste hierarchy. The logic behind it is simple to understand – if there is less waste, then there is less to recycle or reuse.
- The Second ‘R’ Reuse - You may have a box of things you keep that are broken or that you don’t have a use for that you hang on to in-case you find another use for them; or you may find bargains on old furniture or go trash picking and get things that you can refinish – in either case you are working towards reusing the item. Learning to reuse items, or repurpose them for use different from what they are intended for is essential in the waste hierarchy.
- The Third ‘R’ Recycling - The last stage of the waste hierarchy is to recycle. To recycle something means that it will be transformed again into a raw material that can be shaped into a new item. However, there are very few materials on the earth that cannot be recycled.
