China's garbage sorting drive still has a long way to go in many cities

Despite standout success in a few major cities, China's national garbage sorting campaign remains in its infancy in many other cities, with the practice yet to take hold among many residents, according to a report by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

The conclusion draws on data from an initiative the NGO launched five years ago, which uses photo and video uploads to foster public oversight and participation in urban waste management. The organization also developed a garbage sorting index to evaluate the performance of different cities in promoting waste classification.

To date, the NGO has collected 134,000 pieces of data. The assessment of the data shows that China's urban waste sorting efforts have evolved from experimental trials into an increasingly systematized framework, the report said.

This progress is marked by world-class garbage-sorting systems in leading cities like Suzhou and Shanghai, it noted. However, key challenges remain, notably uneven implementation across regions and the low recovery rates of less valuable recyclables.

The report ranked Suzhou in Jiangsu province first in waste sorting for 2025 with a score of 95.74, followed by Shanghai at 83.98.

However, it revealed significant regional disparities. The average score among 41 key cities reached 29.54, and other cities averaged only 10.56. This contributed to an overall national average of just 18.04 across all 104 cities assessed.

"This indicates that while a few cities are now global pioneers in garbage sorting, most are still in the early phases. A habit of self-directed sorting is far from established, and mixing waste remains widespread without oversight," said Ma Jun, head of the NGO.