Government and Policy

Time to divide and conquer household waste

By Qian Yanfeng and Li Xinzhu (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-15 10:00

SHANGHAI - Residents will be asked to divide their household garbage into wet and dry waste before dumping it, Shanghai greenery and public sanitation bureau said on Wednesday.

The program will cover about 500,000 households in 1,000 residential communities by the end of this year.

Wet waste refers to food waste and fruit peels, which make up to 63 percent of the household garbage in the city. Separating them simplifies the process of treating or recycling dry waste.

Wet waste can also be turned into feed additives and organic fertilizer to ensure sustainability, the bureau said.

Residents will also be told to dump hazardous waste and easily recognized recyclables such as old clothes and paper with designated organizations to ensure harm-free treatment and recycling.

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The new move is a step down from earlier ambitious initiatives by local authorities to try to promote a full four-category waste separation system across the city, which failed to win support from residents.

Shanghai has made little progress in waste separation since it started the initiative more than a decade ago. So far, the city has placed four categories of waste bins in more than 3,700 residential communities to encourage garbage classification.

Those bins are color-coded to help people sort their waste: yellow for glass; orange for hazardous household waste such as batteries and pharmaceuticals; blue for other recyclables like paper and plastic; and green for food waste.

But a survey at the end of last year showed only 20 percent of local residents separated waste. Many residents complained that they did not know what kinds of waste were recyclable.

The city now produces more than 7 million tons of household garbage a year - 20,000 tons a day or just over 1 kilogram a day per person - and that is growing rapidly. It has placed huge pressure on the city's waste treatment facilities, which can only handle 18,000 tons a day.

Zhang Zaiyang, a member of the urban construction and environmental protection committee of the municipal people's congress, said the wet and dry waste separation program has been included in the city's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

He also said the city aims to reduce household garbage to 0.58 kg per day per person, and to have nearly 50 percent of its trash recycled by 2015.

Pilot projects on wet and dry waste separation have already been launched at two local communities. More than 1,000 households in Langrun Garden in Minhang district have participated in the project, which was launched by Wanke Property Company in February 2010.

After a one-year trial operation, Gao Ruixin, a manager of Wanke Property Company, told China Daily that about 55 percent of residents in the community have developed the habit of separating food waste from other garbage - a significant improvement from the past.

However, Gao said there is still a long way to go. He said many households still do not follow disposal instructions as they consider them troublesome.

Lu Wanjun, director of the community committee of Wanke Langrun Garden, who is responsible for inspecting the garbage disposal project, said that young people, who are more open-minded, are more willing to cooperate than elders, who are "used to the traditional way of garbage disposal".

"I'd like to participate in the project, if the entire process is simple and clear," said Wang Bo, a 31-year-old man who lives in Xuhui district.