EDITOR'S Note:

Shanghai's strong economic growth should be attributed to not only the robust performance of state-owned enterprises but also the emerging power of the private sector. The number of private businesses now account for 72 percent of the total in the city, according to the local statistics bureau. Shanghai Daily has launched a column about people who run small businesses in Shanghai and how they cope with the challenges of entrepreneurship.

Trendy talk about greener ways of living is all the rage nowadays, but some people have been walking in small carbon footprints for years without fanfare.

One of them is Han Suhua, 53. She and her husband, surnamed Wang, operate a small recycling business on an ordinary corner of an ordinary Shanghai neighborhood.

What they do is simple. They collect newsprint and other paper, plastics and appliances from the area's households and sell them on at higher prices to a larger recycling center.

People nowadays might praise Han for her contribution to a greener society, but she and her husband know little about highfalutin terms like climate change, carbon footprints, energy efficiency ratios and waste reduction management. They simply know how hard it is to eke out a living at the bottom of the status ladder.

And that's where recyclers like Han and Wang live - at the lower levels of society.

"We realized we had to do something to climb out of our poverty"

"It was a tough road for us, but all our hard work over the years paid off in the end," Han said.

The couple have managed to save up the money to help their son open a small bicycle repair shop.

Han and her husband were farmers in a small village in Jiangsu Province, with two daughters and a son to raise. She said theirs was one of the poorer families in the village because of fines they had to pay for violating China's one-child policy. Making matters worse, Han suffered ill-health from all the hard farm work.

"All our neighbors were engaged in some kind of trade at the time, and most of them were getting richer and starting to build new houses," said Han. "We realized we had to do something to climb out of our poverty."

Nine years ago, she followed her husband to Shanghai in the hope of creating a better life.

"We didn't receive much education, and we knew it was hard to start a business in Shanghai," Han said. "But we decided we had no choice but to try."

Her husband had preceded her to Shanghai to try to prepare the way for the family move. When Han arrived in Shanghai with her children after a 12-hour bus trip, she had only 25 yuan in her pocket.

The first years were tough. At that time, the repatriation system was in force, meaning that city inspectors had the right to send people back to their hometowns if they couldn't produce a Shanghai residency certificate.

"Sometimes they took away all the money you had," she said. "Every day we lived in anxiety and fear."

As migrants from the countryside, they were also subject to the sneers of neighbors who looked down on rural newcomers. In a city of plenty, there was sometimes plenty to make Han regret the move.

At first, the family could only afford to pay about 100 yuan a month on accommodation. That didn't go far. They were forced to share a unit with up to 10 other people.

Besides recycling, Han also worked as a rag picker, baby sitter and cleaner. Menial jobs. Low pay. Hard work. Few prospects. "I literally did any job I could find," Han said. "I used to get up at five in the morning to go to work and didn't return home until 10 at night."

"The most important thing was to build trust with residents"

Han's life began to improve about six years ago when the repatriation policy was repealed and fear of the authorities eased. She began earning more money.

"Policies became more lenient then, and we could ply our trade pretty freely," Han said.

Ten fen make one jiao; 10 jiao make one yuan. Little by little, the money added up. Han was soon able to afford to pay the several hundred yuan required to obtain a city license to set up a fixed recycling point outside a newly finished neighborhood.

Slowly Han and her husband shed their stigma of being "outsiders."

"There were new things we needed to adapt to," she said. "After settling down, the most important thing was to build trust with local residents. They are leery about people from the outside, so we needed to be scrupulously honest to win their trust."

She relied on her common sense and intuition.

"We could not short-change people on weight. We could not walk off with things people put outside their doors without asking," she said, recalling the assimilation do's and don'ts.

They were careful to return all personal belongings people inadvertently placed among discarded newspapers, like identity cards, wallets, driver's licenses and small goods like calculators. It was simply a matter of remembering where a batch of recycled material had come from.

"A good memory is probably the only real attribute I have," she said, "and it has helped me greatly in winning people's trust."

Han and Wang hold different responsibilities in their daily work. Han is in charge of dealing with residents while Wang takes up physical tasks of moving the materials collected.

"We've had to learn to trade more smartly"

They buy scrap paper at between 1 and 1.5 yuan per kilo, depending on quality, and sell it to a local recycling center for several jiao higher. It's an extra bonanza for them when local shops renovate and throw out a lot of material.

She said the family's income is now sufficient to pay rent of several thousand yuan for both their home and their son's shop.

There's even some money left over to send to relatives back in their hometown.

"Honestly, it's much better than working for someone else," Han said. "But we are not used to being able to afford things, so we tend to save our money."

Still, times are changing and Han said maintaining the status quo takes adaptation.

For one thing, people aren't throwing out as many old appliances because many stores now take them as trade-ins on new models. Also, fewer people subscribe to daily newspapers.

Meanwhile, the prices they get for selling recycled materials haven't kept pace with skyrocketing food prices.

To ensure a steady stream of income, Han has had to develop the same kind of market savvy as successful entrepreneurs: Buy low and sell high.

"Sometimes the recycling center changes prices abruptly," Han said. "So we've had to learn to trade more smartly. We keep close watch on prices, and wait to resell when they are higher."

As the Spring Festival approaches, Han's family is looking forward to returning to their hometown.

"The trip is much shorter nowadays, though the fares are much higher," Han said. "But we can afford it now, and that fills me with happiness after all the bitterness I've endured."

Recycling

Interviewees: Han Suhua (right) and her husband Wang

Age: 53

Business started from: 2002

Initial investment: When Han arrived in Shanghai with her children after a 12-hour bus trip, she had only 25 yuan (US$3.8) in her pocket.

Current status: The couple have a fixed recycling point outside a newly finished neighborhood.

Monthly income: Sufficient to pay rent of several thousand yuan for both their home and their son's shop.