Trash-sorting campaign 'makes remarkable progress,' officials say

Shanghai has made remarkable progress in its garbage-sorting campaign, the city's greenery and public sanitation authorities announced on Thursday.

A total of 10,311 tons of wet garbage was separated daily on average in the first half of this year, soaring 89 percent from the same period in 2019, the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau said.

The city's trash-sorting regulations went into effect on July 1, 2019.

As a result, 14,847 tons of dry trash was collected daily between January and June, posing a drop of 28 percent from the same period in 2019.

An average of 7,104 tons of recyclable waste was sorted daily, growing 1.65 times from 2019, while 2.02 tons of hazardous trash were collected daily, soaring 14 times from that of 2019.

Garbage sorting has covered streetside businesses as well, and nearly 9,000 garbage bins on city streets have been renovated to make them more adaptable to people's disposal habits.

The sorting performance of public institutions and public venues have also improved, said the bureau.

In the first half of this year, the garbage-sorting performance of 70 first-class hospitals and 58 universities and colleges reached "excellent," and 11 transport hubs were up to standard.

All districts and all 220 subdistricts and towns in the city reached "excellent" in terms of their waste-sorting performance in the first half of this year, according to the bureau.

A total of 125 waste-sorting volunteer teams have been formed in the city, and the target is that such volunteer services will cover all subdistricts and towns in the city by 2022.

They have played an active role in the city's trash-sorting campaign, said officials.

Meanwhile, residential communities have worked out their own incentives for volunteers to stimulate volunteers, and shopping malls and office buildings have formed their own innovative practices based on real situations to cut the production of trash, the bureau said.

The city's first star volunteer teams were established on Thursday, led by Wang Rugang, a renowned local comedian who has been appointed as the city's waste-sorting promotion ambassador.

The city will further enhance trash sorting efforts and the construction of relevant facilities with an intelligent approach, the bureau said.