Shanghai making strides in trash management

Due to the effective implementation of the trash sorting program and the construction of new waste treatment facilities, Shanghai is expected to have zero domestic waste going to landfills by the end of 2020, Deng Jianping, director of the municipal greening and city appearance administration, said at a news conference on Thursday.

Thursday marked the first anniversary of city's introduction of domestic waste management.

During the conference, Deng said that 90 percent of Shanghai residential neighborhoods, public institutions and companies have met the required standards for trash sorting.

Among the four categories of trash — food wastes, recyclables, hazardous wastes, and others — the daily volume of waste that can be recycled or incinerated have risen while the volume of those that need to be buried have fallen.

Deng said that the construction of new facilities will be accelerated so as to expand the city's incineration capabilities. This would in turn ensure that domestic waste would not need to be buried in the future.