Shanghai cleans up waste collection, recycling

Innovation

Shanghai has a history of innovative waste treatment. In 2000, it was selected as one of eight pilot cities to implement a trash sorting program, and over the years the city has launched several campaigns to promote and implement the practice.

Since August, a new round of trash sorting has been carried out in many parts of the city, and pamphlets and brochures have been printed and handed out in schools and residential communities to ensure that residents are fully aware of the ongoing campaign.

In addition, teams of volunteers, including university students and retirees, are instructing residents about garbage classification, according to the municipal volunteer association.

Last month, authorities designated the fifth of every month as a trash sorting-themed day.

Moreover, new technology is being used at pilot trash stations equipped with smart recycling bins fitted with sensors that can identify the type of trash and pay people who deliver it. Because they are linked to the internet, the smart bins can notify the trash recycling company when they are almost full.

New supervision systems are being tested, too. In Fengxian district, Party members and local officials have been assigned to garbage stations as "trash bin chiefs", responsible for supervising sorting in specific areas.

Last year, Shanghai issued mandatory rules for sorting trash that specifically targeted waste produced in work places, including government offices, public institutions and businesses.

The Shanghai Municipal Administration of Afforestation and City Appearance, whose main tasks include waste transportation and treatment, sent notices to 50,000 offices and handled 557 cases in which office buildings failed to comply with the rules. Last year, it handed out fines totaling 20,000 yuan ($2,900).

As a result, many office buildings have upgraded their trash bins. During the summer, Liu Peng, a worker at an advertising company, discovered that his office building on Huaihai Road in the downtown had replaced its one large trash can with three different bins.

"I didn't sort my trash before, but I will do so now, even though it requires a little effort," he said.

In August, notices were posted in the entrance of his office building to inform all the companies in the complex that they were required to sort their own trash. Zhao Jianming, the building's manager, praised the program, and said he has made it his personal responsibility to see that all the trash is sorted.

Niu Debi, a cleaner in the building, said she has to check the trash bins and pick out garbage that has been placed in the wrong container, which has raised her workload but not her paycheck.

Slow progress

Despite the various measures taken in Shanghai in recent years, the progress of trash sorting in general is still slow because while most people know about it, few actually practice it, despite years of education.

Michael Rosenthal, a United States national who has lived in Shanghai for 13 years and founded US Green Solutions, a waste treatment company, said the key to overcoming the problem is better and more stringent standards and regulations set by the government, and more companies developing new technology.

"That said, public cooperation is also important," he said. "To see green practices becoming more common in China and people's behavior changing in just a few years is truly an amazing thing."

In addition to those factors, Qi, the old Party member in Chengjiaqiao, is convinced that determination and motivation are also essential to improve the situation.

"It's all about people's mindsets; just lift a finger and it's done, so why not do the right thing?" she said.

Yu Ruyue contributed to this story.