Garbage collectors in Changsha, Hunan province, who recently passed a professional skills examination organized by the local government are to be awarded accreditation that qualifies them to work in the city's recycling industry.

As many of Changsha's 20,000 waste collectors left education at an early age, they had difficulties with the written test, but more than 90 percent passed the practical section.

The examination, which took place early this week, is the first of its kind in the central metropolis. Its purpose is to standardize the city's recycling industry and the behavior of local waste collectors.

(Xiaoxiang Morning Post, China Daily August 28, 2008)