Citywide inspections target waste sorting, collection and transportation

Citywide law enforcement and inspection of household waste sorting, collection and transportation will begin this weekend and continue till August.

The inspections will be conducted by the standing committees of the 16 district-level legislatures each with different focus, the Shanghai People's Congress announced on Saturday.

"In Huangpu and Xuhui districts, the inspections will particularly target catering businesses and tourist attractions, while the garbage-sorting performances at hospitals, hotels and office buildings in Jing'an and Minhang districts will be targeted," said Cui Minghua, director legislator of the urban construction and environmental protection commission of the congress.

In Hongkou, Putuo and Jinshan districts, the focus will be the disposal performance of residential complexes, disposal accuracy and the performance of property management in garbage sorting. The trash-sorting performance of universities is the priority of inspections in Yangpu, Baoshan and Songjiang districts.

In Qingpu District and the Pudong New Area, the handling capacity of waste and the reduction of wet market trash will be targeted. The focus in Jiading and Fengxian districts is the collection and recycling of recyclable trash, according to the congress.

Clandestine visits will be conducted as well.

Other issues to be targeted are the awareness of garbage sorting particularly among white-collar workers, university students, out-of-towners and tenants; renovation of waste disposal spots; the allocation of transportation vehicles; the management of "designated disposal spot, designated disposal time" sites; the construction of waste incineration facilities of dry trash and recycling facilities of wet trash; and the law enforcement of government authorities.

The inspections will target the reduction of trash produced at wet markets, express delivery garbage, product packages and disposable items, said Cui.

"The goal of the inspections is to discover problems in the city's waste-sorting system, consolidate and improve the city's garbage-sorting levels, remove bottlenecks in trash sorting and promote recycling," he said.

Ninety percent of residential complexes and villages across the city have their garbage-sorting performance up to the standard, and the rate is 87 percent for working units, the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau announced on Saturday.

In the first quarter of this year, a total of 7,300 tons of wet garbage were separated daily in the city, a rise of 55.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the bureau.

A total of 3,767 tons of recyclable trash was collected daily, a surge of 86.8 percent year on year, and 1.66 tons of hazardous trash were sorted out daily, soaring 1,741 percent from last year, according to the bureau.

In comparison, 11,841 tons of dry trash were sorted out daily in the city, a drop of 41.3 percent.

"The impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic has led to a drop in the amount of household garbage collected in the city, but the sorting is still significantly better than last year's average," said Deng Jianping, director of the bureau.

Garbage sorting in more than 95 percent of 13,000 residential communities and villages across Shanghai will be brought up to standard this year, and the aim is that more than 85 percent of subdistricts and towns across the city will reach model standard this year.

Last year, 87 percent of enterprises in Shanghai had their garbage-sorting performance up to standard. The aim is to lift this to over 95 percent this year, the bureau said.

The bureau has set a goal that the amount of sorted wet trash will be about 9,000 tons daily this year, and for recyclable waste 6,000 tons daily.

An extra 3,450 tons of daily capacity in wet trash recycling and dry waste incineration are on the agenda for the year to eliminate household garbage.

Residential communities across Shanghai have been required to install tools to break open garbage bags, as well as washing systems at their trash disposal spots this year.

New criteria covering facilities and odor control will be included in Shanghai's assessment system of trash sorting at residential communities.

Two dry waste incineration facilities in Songjiang and Chongming districts will be completed by the end of this year, together with three wet garbage treatment facilities in Jiading and Jinshan districts and the Pudong New Area.