Trash sorting set to gain momentum

Faced with a growing refuse problem in urban areas, China plans to move ahead with household trash sorting in 46 major cities by requiring all public institutes and companies to separate hazardous waste, kitchen waste and recyclable materials by 2020.

By then, specific policies, laws and regulations will have been adopted that will push mandatory trash sorting forward, and the recycling rate will grow to at least 35 percent in these cities, Feng Liang, a senior resource conservation and environmental protection official at the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, said on Friday.

The targets are listed in a household trash sorting action plan jointly issued on Thursday by the NDRC and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.