GARBAGE LITERACY

Beijing sees progress in mandatory trash sorting By Ji Jing

Last month Li Zongwei, a garbage collector for the Haidian Environmental Sanitation Service Center in Beijing, had a new job added to his task of driving his truck to designated areas in the capital to collect kitchen waste. He became a photographer and his subject: garbage.

Early every morning, he would go on his round, open the green bins meant for kitchen waste, and quickly scan the contents to see if they fit the criteria. If they did, he would take a photo of them before hauling them onto his truck. If they did not, he would have a word with the property management staff, telling them what was wrong and asking them to resort the trash.

Li started this errand on May 1, the first day when mandatory garbage sorting rules went into effect in Beijing, requiring residents to separate their trash into four different categories: kitchen waste, recyclables, hazardous waste and other dry waste. Garbage sorting is an important means for Beijing to promote resource recycling and become a more environmentally friendly and livable city.

The practice has been promoted in many cities across the country. As of January, 237 large Chinese cities had started garbage sorting, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Initial progress

When Li started his new job, he found garbage not sorted properly, with tissues, disposable chopsticks and even plastic bottles mixed with kitchen waste, he toldBeijing Evening News. But as residents received detailed instructions on sorting, the garbage in most dustbins now meets the standard, he said.

Li’s team is responsible for collecting kitchen waste from over 900 residential compounds in Haidian District. By May 1, only 500 of the compounds had sorted out their kitchen waste correctly, while as of May 13, all of them had been doing it, Li said.

Kitchen waste has always been regarded as the key to reducing and recycling domestic trash. According to a press conference held by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Management on June 2, the daily average amount of sorted-out domestic kitchen waste in the city reached 740 tons in May, up 159 percent from April and 37 percent year on year. For restaurants, it was over 1,200 tons, up 98 percent from April. The average daily amount of other waste was reduced to 21,800 tons, 14 percent below the same period last year.

In the process, problems related to garbage sorting have been identified and are being addressed. They range from old signs on the trashcans that have not been updated to more severe ones like pollution and health hazards.

In Dongsiertiao, an area in Dongcheng District known for itshutongs, the alleys with their traditional single-storied little houses, garbage sorting started last year. Nearly two dozen residents volunteered to teach the residents how to classify their trash and dispose of it. They worked with the environmental sanitation department to set a time for people to put their trash out for collection. The department came to fetch the bags once in the morning and in the evening and the residents and cleaners put the garbage in the trash truck. For the elderly and people with disabilities, the driver went to their rooms to collect their garbage.

A street cleaner at work with her cart, carrying four dustbins for four different categories of garbage at Wangfujing Street in downtown Beijing on May 29

In the Jiangangnanli area in Shijingshan District, three trash stations have been combined into one, which has improved the environment. In the beginning, some residents complained that the single station was far from their apartments and inconvenient. However, they stopped complaining as the environment improved. In the past, plastic bags and other trash would fly everywhere when there was a strong wind. Now the other two rehabilitated trash stations have become a newspaper and magazine stand.

In another area, Wanboyuan in Xicheng District, in the past there were trashcans on each floor of the highrise residential buildings. Although the cleaners cleared them every day, the place used to smell. Then the trashcans were removed and the residents agreed to set up a garbage station outside.

Li Rugang, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Management, toldEconomic Dailythat while removing the trashcans inside buildings may cause some inconvenience, it is necessary to do so to improve public health and prevent the spread of the diseases.

Participation of communities and residents is the most important thing. Only when everybody participates in the process can we improve our environmental literacy

Engaging the public

The private sector has also been mobilized to participate in garbage collection and sorting. Renewable resource companies are not only providing door-to-door garbage collection services but are also expanding their business to promoting and guiding garbage sorting. AiFenLei is a mobile app that can be used to book doorstep trash collection. Those who order the service are paid 0.8 yuan ($0.11) for 1 kg of garbage as reward for their environmental protection efforts.

A primary school student volunteer and a community worker watch a resident dispose of her garbage in Haidian District in Beijing on June 5

“I receive over 40 orders a day now,” Li Wanhai, a garbage collector with AiFenLei, told Xinhua News Agency. “I feel people’s enthusiasm for garbage sorting has greatly improved.”

“Cooperation between the government and private sector can help boost the resource recycling industry and reduce the cost of garbage classification and treatment,” Wang Hao, chief of the Communist Party of China’s Chaoyang District Committee, told Xinhua.

Efforts have also been made to enhance public awareness of garbage sorting. Wang Lei, an official with the Desheng Street Community Office, toldBeijing Evening Newsthat public awareness is critical to garbage sorting.

Community volunteers play an important role in enhancing residents’ awareness about the importance of garbage classification. In a neighborhood near Desheng Street in Xicheng, volunteers play an important role in guiding garbage sorting. Wearing a light blue waistcoat and dark blue apron, they offer help from dawn to dusk. Wang Weiping, an advisor to the Beijing Municipal Government and head of the Beijing garbage sorting expert team, said though the rules come with punitive measures for violators such as fines, garbage sorting must be inculcated as a habit, and that takes time.

“Participation of communities and residents is the most important thing. Only when everybody participates in the process can we improve our environmental literacy,” Wang said.

The urban management commission of Beijing has launched an awareness-enhancing program on social media platform WeChat, through which people can find out how to categorize a piece of garbage.