Zha Xiaogang [Photo/people.cn]

Well-off graduate turns to collecting swill

Zha Xiaogang, a 27-year-old college graduate whose family owns a business, drives a BMW to work, and yet, his work involves collecting swill in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province, reported people.cn on Thursday.

Zha used to work as a researcher for an aerospace institution, earning a good salary in Shanghai, but his parents wanted him to come back home. He soon found a job as a swill collector.

He and his co-worker spend 10 hours a day collecting swill from a company canteen and picking out the larger chunks of garbage. Bearing with the pungent smell of swill, he then pours the swill into a machine to process it into organic fertilizer.

Zha says he doesn't think it's less valuable work or that he's wasting his knowledge since he believes his job requires his knowledge of automation and chemistry.