HONG KONG, 24 May 2026 – In the backstreets of Hong Kong, elderly women pushing trolleys stacked with flattened cardboard have become one of the city’s most recognisable but uncomfortable urban images. Known locally as “cardboard grannies”, they collect discarded boxes from shops, markets and residential areas before selling them to recyclers for small amounts of cash.
Their work is physically demanding, poorly paid and largely informal. Yet for many, it remains a necessary way to supplement limited savings, support daily expenses or maintain a sense of independence in a city where living costs remain among the highest in Asia.
The sight is especially striking because it exists beside Hong Kong’s image as a global financial centre. Luxury malls, skyscrapers and high-end residential towers stand close to districts where elderly residents spend hours folding cardboard, pulling carts through narrow streets and negotiating with recycling shops over low prices.
The issue is not only about recycling. It is about elderly poverty, gender vulnerability and the gaps that can emerge when ageing societies do not provide enough financial security for older citizens. Research on Hong Kong’s informal waste pickers has described “cardboard grannies” as an often overlooked group whose social and economic conditions are not properly monitored or recognised.
Many of these collectors are older women. Previous community surveys found that a large share of Hong Kong’s waste pickers were women aged 60 and above, with many entering the work for economic reasons and some relying on the income to meet basic needs.
The financial return is extremely limited. Some collectors spend long hours gathering cardboard but earn only modest daily amounts, depending on weight, recycling prices and the availability of discarded materials. Older reports have estimated that some collectors earned only a few dozen Hong Kong dollars a day, while facing exhaustion, injury risks and social stigma.
Hong Kong’s ageing challenge makes the issue more urgent. As the city’s elderly population grows, more residents may face pressure from high housing costs, medical expenses and insufficient retirement income. For lower-income older people without strong family support or adequate savings, informal work can become a survival strategy rather than a choice.
There is also an environmental irony. Cardboard collectors contribute to Hong Kong’s recycling ecosystem by recovering paper waste that might otherwise enter landfills. Yet their contribution is rarely formally valued. They perform an urban environmental service, but without labour protection, stable income, insurance or recognition as part of the city’s sustainability system.
The problem is therefore both social and structural. Treating cardboard grannies only as symbols of poverty risks overlooking the practical reforms needed to improve their lives. These may include better elderly income support, safer community recycling systems, accessible health services, neighbourhood-level outreach and stronger protections for informal workers.
For businesses and residents, there is also a role to play. Shops and buildings can organise cleaner, safer collection points. Community groups can provide food, medical support and practical assistance. More importantly, society can treat elderly collectors with dignity rather than invisibility.
The Ledger Asia Insights
Hong Kong’s cardboard grannies reflect a difficult question for wealthy Asian cities: what happens when economic success does not fully protect older citizens from insecurity?
For investors and policymakers, the issue sits within a larger demographic trend. Asia is ageing quickly, and cities with high living costs will face increasing pressure to strengthen retirement systems, healthcare access and community support. Elderly poverty is not only a welfare issue; it affects labour markets, consumption, housing, healthcare demand and social stability.
The environmental angle is equally important. Informal waste collectors help support recycling, but their work is not properly integrated into formal sustainability planning. A more inclusive green economy should recognise the people at the bottom of the recycling chain, not only the companies and technologies at the top.
For Hong Kong, the challenge is to move beyond visibility toward protection. Cardboard grannies should not be left to carry the burden of both poverty and recycling alone. Their presence is a reminder that sustainable cities must be measured not only by wealth, skyline or financial power, but by how they treat the elderly and vulnerable.
For Asia more broadly, this is a warning. As cities modernise, ageing populations must not be left behind in informal survival work. The next stage of urban development must combine economic growth with stronger social safety nets and dignified ageing.
