An old couple, now in their 70s, have been collecting trash to pay their debts for more than a decade, Zhengzhou Evening News reported on Thursday.

Fang Zongxiu, 72, and his wife Zhang Shenju, had owed about 40,000 yuan ($6,521), after helping their three sons get married and build houses in Kaifeng, Henan province.

To repay the debt, the couple went to Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, in 1996, and found a cleaning job.

Besides their regular work, they also moonlighted as trash collectors, which could add 300 yuan a month to their 960 yuan monthly salary.

They saved 400 or 500 yuan a month, after cutting rent and other living costs.

Having been in Zhengzhou for 17 years, Fang and his wife still do cleaning jobs and collect trash, but they said they have basically paid off the debt.