University's intelligent approach to garbage
Garbage sorting at city universities is being promoted with “intelligent waste bins” for recyclables, greenery authorities in Yangpu District said.
At Fudan University, 10 machines have collected more than 30 tons of recyclable waste since they were installed on March 29, including books, clothing, boxes, plastics, glass and metals. The highest daily total was 1.8 tons.
Students and faculty are given points for correct use of the machines, earning 100 points for every kilogram of garbage.
Every 100 points is worth 1 yuan (15 US cents).
Zhu Ying, deputy director of the university's general services office, said its normal bins would often be overflowing, especially after graduations when large numbers of books and other material were dumped.
"The top recyclable waste dumped by students are books, express delivery packages and old clothing," she said.
The university has more than 40,000 students and faculty, producing an average of 81 barrels of kitchen waste and 236 barrels of domestic waste daily. A large proportion of that was recyclable, Zhu said.
Yang Ningning, who is studying economics at Fudan, said: "I dumped study materials and waste paper into the machines, and once glass from a broken cup.
"In the past, I called collectors but I needed to wait for a long time and I called them only when I had accumulated a large amount of recyclable waste. These machines are really convenient because I can get rid of waste at any time now." She said the machines also meant there was no danger of collectors being injured, by broken glass for example. Yang has earned 20 yuan from getting rid of her waste correctly
The university has been stepping up its promotion of garbage sorting, and bins for different types of trash have been set up with bags of different colors for different types of trash distributed to students.
The new machines will soon be set up at Tongji University, the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, the Yangpu District Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau said.
So far, there are about 300 such machines for recyclable waste in the district, according to the bureau.