Tserennadmid Suhbaatar

Tserennadmid S. lives with her husband and two children. She has borrowed money from Kiva partner XacBank on two previous occasions, once as a business loan and once to help build a home.

She has been a reliable client who entered into a relationship with the bank 572 days ago and didn't exceed the credit term. Since 2003, she has been running a secondary raw material buying center which is located opposite the Khuchit Shonkhor market at Denjiin Myanga.

The high school educated entrepreneur buys all types of bottles, plastic bags, and plastic containers from individuals. She sells the bottles to bottle-buying centers of appropriate factories or sometimes directly sells them to the factories. She typically will resell 5,000 to 6,000 bottles twice a month.

She makes a profit of between 20 to 50 per bottle (14,000 togrog=$1 USD). She also buys plastic containers and plastic bags at 100-150 togrogs a kilo and sells them for 200 togrogs a kilogram, mostly to Chinese companies. She has been running this business for a long time, so she has many permanent clients and suppliers.

This photograph of Tserennadmid is taken at the recycling center. The sign over her head says in Mongolian that it will take 100 years for a single littered plastic bag to decompose.

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