Residents begin garbage-sorting program
May 28, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IN the Jiangnan Xingcheng residential complex, Fu Ming is instructing her nine-year-old son how to correctly separate dry and wet garbage and dispose of them in different dustbins.
"Napkins and plastic bags are dry garbage, which should be thrown into the black trash bin, while kitchen leftovers and fruit peelings are wet waste and should be put in the brown bin," she said, demonstrating as she talked.
Xingcheng and Pingji residential complexes in Minhang's Gumei area were among 100 communities in Shanghai that began a pilot project on May 15 to recycle waste in a more systematic fashion.
The program, which aims to reduce the amount of garbage the city produces, will be rolled out in 1,009 communities by the end of the year and citywide by 2015.
Minhang generates about 2,000 tons of non-industrial garbage every day. About 65 percent of that is kitchen waste, which can pollute the environment during transport and slows trash burning because it contains a large amount of water, according to an official of the district's public sanitation bureau.
The system aims to relieve the workload of garbage disposal sites by separating waste before it is processed, he said.
Efficiency of waste disposal becomes more critical as population grows and concern for the environment increases.
The new waste-sorting system is expected to reduce the amount of non-industrial rubbish that needs to be processed by 5 percent a year in 2011 and by 25 percent in 2015.
Neighborhood committees in Gumei are distributing biodegradable, color-coded trash bags to households, with instructions on how to use them.
About 300 volunteers are promoting garbage-sorting in a door-to-door campaign.
One senior resident in Gumei worried that garbage trucks will mix up the sorted waste, making the whole exercise pointless.
The local official said residents shouldn't worry about that. Sanitation authorities will arrange separate vehicles to transport wet and dry waste.
Some of the wet waste will be hauled to treatment factories and decomposed for use as fertilizer, he said.
Shanghai is discussing the idea of charging people for garbage pickup as one way to encourage conservation.
It's part of a national imperative issued by the State Council, China's cabinet, to reduce the quantity of domestic trash and promote environmentally friendly waste management. Shanghai's plans are to be presented by August.
"Napkins and plastic bags are dry garbage, which should be thrown into the black trash bin, while kitchen leftovers and fruit peelings are wet waste and should be put in the brown bin," she said, demonstrating as she talked.
Xingcheng and Pingji residential complexes in Minhang's Gumei area were among 100 communities in Shanghai that began a pilot project on May 15 to recycle waste in a more systematic fashion.
The program, which aims to reduce the amount of garbage the city produces, will be rolled out in 1,009 communities by the end of the year and citywide by 2015.
Minhang generates about 2,000 tons of non-industrial garbage every day. About 65 percent of that is kitchen waste, which can pollute the environment during transport and slows trash burning because it contains a large amount of water, according to an official of the district's public sanitation bureau.
The system aims to relieve the workload of garbage disposal sites by separating waste before it is processed, he said.
Efficiency of waste disposal becomes more critical as population grows and concern for the environment increases.
The new waste-sorting system is expected to reduce the amount of non-industrial rubbish that needs to be processed by 5 percent a year in 2011 and by 25 percent in 2015.
Neighborhood committees in Gumei are distributing biodegradable, color-coded trash bags to households, with instructions on how to use them.
About 300 volunteers are promoting garbage-sorting in a door-to-door campaign.
One senior resident in Gumei worried that garbage trucks will mix up the sorted waste, making the whole exercise pointless.
The local official said residents shouldn't worry about that. Sanitation authorities will arrange separate vehicles to transport wet and dry waste.
Some of the wet waste will be hauled to treatment factories and decomposed for use as fertilizer, he said.
Shanghai is discussing the idea of charging people for garbage pickup as one way to encourage conservation.
It's part of a national imperative issued by the State Council, China's cabinet, to reduce the quantity of domestic trash and promote environmentally friendly waste management. Shanghai's plans are to be presented by August.
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