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    This deluge of trash might not be such a big problem were China not in the middle of a monumental, if flawed, effort to fix its recycling system. Recycling has long been a gritty, unregulated affair in the country, one driven less by green virtue than by the business opportunity in extracting value out of other people’s leavings.

    The government now wants a recycling industry that doesn’t spoil the environment or sicken workers. The transition hasn’t been smooth.

It's not so much about "the wealthy" dumping whatever they like into their environment. It's about unregulated, bootleg industry that is only cheap because it's illegal and harmful.