New steps to sort and recycle household waste
Print Edition
Garbage collection and recycling are two sides of the same coin in Changning, which is testing ways to improve resource utilization as it works to reduce urban waste.
Starting from early last year, Changning began piloting a garbage sorting program at three local communities. Around this time, the district commerce commission and sanitation bureau also recruited nearly 1,000 garbage sorters to pick cigarette boxes, plastic bags and used Tetra Pak packs from local trash.
The sorters are full-time employees of Xinjinhua Business Co, previously Changning Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
While most local residents still call for junk removal and recycling on the phone, more and more are booking such services online through a website operated by Xinjinhua.
Apart from its online service, Xinjinhua has built indoor garbage stations at several residential communities in Changning. One such facility is located in the Xinjing No. 5 Village neighborhood. This 30-square-meter facility functions as a hub of garbage sorting and disposal. Here a single garbage sorter can pick through almost half a ton of trash each day. This refuse is generated by the neighborhood’s more than 480 households.
The sorter, surnamed Hu, transports the items he collects to a picking yard on Jingli Road W. with his tricycle. This yard belongs to Xinjinhua.
The company plans to buy two medium trucks within the year. They will travel around Changning everyday to transport renewable resources collected by the sorters. Each journey is estimated to be as long as 70 kilometers, according to the company.
On a recent morning, a resident of Xinjing No. 5 Village sent Hu an old stainless steel folding chair. Hu put the chair into a large plastic basket. A tag on the basket read “for metal.” This same resident later sent him three more such chairs, the stainless steel from which can sell for 1.4 yuan (20 US cents) per kilogram. A kilo of newspaper or plastic bottles can be sold for 90 cents and 1 yuan respectively.
As for plastic garbage, Hu and his colleagues collect plastic bottles for recycling around Changning. These bottles would likely end up in incinerators otherwise, although recycling plastic can save twice as much energy as burning it. Recycled plastic bottles can also be made into clothing, carpeting, detergent bottles and lumber for outdoor decks.
From each of the three communities in Changning that practice garbage sorting, Xinjinhua receives five tons of waste paper, plastics and metal items every month, accounting for 10 to 15 percent of total trash generated, according to the Changning greenery and sanitation bureau.
“Domestic waste is gradually being reduced as recycling increases,” said a spokesperson with the bureau.
In accordance with Changning’s three-year plan on garbage sorting, another 40 some residential quarters will join the scheme by the end of the year.
A recycling system for renewable resources is expected to cover the entire district next year.
“We’ll expand our ‘last mile’ garbage sorting business to the entire district, as it is our most obvious advantage,” said Sun Yaming, general manager of Xinjinhua.
The next step is to improve the structure of the system and establish standards for the industry as soon as possible, according to Sun.
Xinjinhua plans to further cooperate with metallurgical and paper companies to make the best use of renewable resources found in household waste.
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