The newest crimewave to sweep Shanghai appears to be recycled clothes robbery, with more than 1,500 donation bins have been ransacked.
Among those hit were many of the 680 distinctive 'panda bins,' introduced in 2012 as part of a three-year environmental protection program.
Clothes in good condition are donated to schools in poor areas in other parts of the country, while the rest are processed into textiles, industrial and construction raw materials.
It is not just the contents that caught the eye of the burglars, either, but the cutesy containers themselves. In two cases, panda bins themselves were stolen.
“Thefts targeting the panda-shaped bins are out of control,” reported a security guard in the Pudong New Area.
Scavengers break the locks or literally fish out the contents using long iron hooks. Instead of going to charity, the clothing ends up in second-hand markets or sold to factories.
In order to tackle the problem - and protect the pandas - the current donation bins will be replaced by taller bins with an improved lock.
But with the popular panda design enduring, will this be enough to deter Shanghai’s latest thieves?
Read about another unusual theft of public property in Shanghai by clicking here.
Save the pandas: In the past, old clothing was incinerated or put in landfill, both polluting the environment
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