MANILA/BUSAN, South Korea -- Maria Teresa Calumpiano's workplace is a small plastic bench swarmed by mosquitos and the smell of rotting garbage. She makes a living sorting used plastic items, such as spoons and forks, into sacks before they are then sold to recycling plants.
Calumpiano has been working in the waste recycling business since 1994 in the Payatas area of the Philippine capital Manila after finishing elementary school. Her years of experience have taught her to identify which spoons and forks are high quality plastics and which are substandard.
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