Streamlining Waste Sorting

by Li Huipeng

At the gate of Yabao Community in Dongcheng District of Beijing are a dozen green bins for kitchen waste. Residents who place waste in the bins can get credits which can be exchanged for gifts.“Half of the residents already put kitchen waste into designated bins，” reports Xing Zhilei from an environmental protection company. “The method works， so were preparing to promote it in more places.”

In early June， the Chinese government called on the people to embrace waste sorting in an effort to accelerate green and sustainable development.

No Places for Waste

Way back in 2000， Chinas Ministry of Housing and UrbanRural Development launched a waste-sorting campaign in eight pilot cities including Shanghai， Beijing and Shenzhen. But almost two decades later， waste sorting is still minimal nationwide despite some progress in a few cities.

According to Wu Xiangyang， associate researcher at Beijing Academy of Social Sciences， waste sorting hasnt gained traction in China because it has been only encouraged rather than made legally binding. In countries and regions with remarkable garbage management， regulations and legal enforcement have played an important role in developing public awareness and habits on waste sorting.

Many loopholes on waste classification still exist in large cities. Residents are generally familiar with waste sorting， but few practice it. According to surveys， in most cities， the garbage sorting that should be done at the source is mainly carried out through secondary sorting by garbage counselors， volunteers and garbage disposal company staff. The result is that waste classification and processing abilities are weak and inefficient. Additionally， many cities suffer inadequate kitchen waste treatment facilities and unreasonable planning for waste incineration plants. The disjunction between the collection， transportation， distribution and treatment of waste caused by poor supervision and lack of responsibility has not been solved for a long time.

Legislative Guarantee

As environmental issues become more important， the Chinese government has amplified efforts to promote waste sorting. On June 6， 2019， Chinas nine related authorities including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly issued a notice calling on domestic waste classification in cities at the prefectural level or above nationwide. According to the notice， 46 key cities will complete a basic domestic waste sorting and treatment system by 2020. By 2025， domestic waste classification and treatment systems will be established in all cities at the prefectural level and above nationwide.

A municipal regulation in Shanghai covering domestic waste management took effect on July 1， placing garbage sorting into a legislative framework for the first time. It required every household and institution to sort their trash into four categories： recyclable waste， hazardous waste， household food waste and residual waste. Individuals who fail to do so will be fined from 50 yuan（US$7） up to 200 yuan （US$28）. If the failure causes a severe negative impact， it will influence the individuals credit on the local public information platform. “The significance of this legislation is that it transfers past voluntary environmental action into a legal obligation for every Shanghai citizen，” remarks Liu Xinyu， associate research fellow at the Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development， Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Not far behind， the municipal government of Beijing announced that it would revise its regulation on domestic waste management to promote mandatory trash classification and introduce fines on par with those of Shanghai. “The impending revision is a major change for the management mechanism of garbage sorting，” remarks Wu Xiangyang.“Individuals who fail to sort rubbish will be fined and punished according to the law. This will greatly motivate people to participate in garbage sorting.”

New Jobs

After Shanghai issued the regulation on waste sorting， one interesting thing happened： A resident unwilling to sort his garbage conspired to send his waste to a neighboring community with a drone. But the drone was discovered， and the resident warned and fined.

Liu Xinyu believes that residents need guidance and encouragement. The government should supervise communities while communities supervise residents， helping them develop waste sorting habits. At the same time， social organizations and volunteers need to work hard to publicize the classification of trash. He also thinks that classification of trash should be easy to understand and practice. “Many countries just divide garbage into recyclable and unrecyclable. And people just need to dump the recyclable one into different clearly-signed dustbins，” says Liu. “It is very easy to grasp. And we need to leverage market mechanisms by strengthening cooperation with companies engaged in garbage sorting.”

Li Mingzhe， deputy general manager of Shanghai Fangxu Environmental Protection Technology Co.， Ltd.， and his colleagues set up a stall in a residential area in Shanghai at 9 a.m. every day to collect recyclable garbage. They also accept online requests to go door-to-door to pick up trash.

“We started this business half a year ago，” says Li. “At the beginning， we could only collect about 200 kilograms per day but now it can reach as much as a ton. The increase can be attributed to enhanced public awareness about trash sorting.”

As garbage sorting becomes more popular in cities around China， online collection of recyclable trash has emerged as a new occupation. Yinchuan， the capital city of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region， already has 200 online garbage collectors. Zhang Hongchuan， in his 20s， is among them. Similar to delivery drivers， he and his colleagues receive orders via their cellphones and ride identical vehicles to the destinations to collect recyclable trash.

“I think this is an emerging and trendy job，” Zhang notes after seeing a tremendous volume of recyclable waste dropped off at a processing plant. “Waste is just resources in the wrong place. Industries related to garbage sorting seem promising.”