Sanitation authorities target ayis at waste sorting trial
Shanghai's greenery and public sanitation authorities introduced their latest effort to highlight the benefits of trash sorting on Tuesday with a trial at Century Park in the Pudong New Area to raise awareness among local ayis (domestic helpers).
The Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau said it will expand the trial citywide and cover other sectors such as express delivery, housing go-between agencies and culture and tourism.
In Huamu Subdistrict, home to 10,808 expats by the end of February, training has been conducted.
"The training particularly targets new coming ayis and it will be expanded to cover other groups such as nursing staff serving elderly citizens," said Yan Jun, deputy director of the Huamu Subdistrict office. "Mobile population is the highlight."
To stir public enthusiasm for sorting and recycling, authorities are also collecting art works made from recyclable waste by residents.
Shanghai has registered 720,000 waste-sorting volunteers so far, according to the bureau.
The waste-sorting rate of Shanghai's permanent population on a voluntary basis should hit 98 percent by 2025 compared with 97 percent at present.
Shanghai has made remarkable progress in its trash-sorting campaign since its garbage classification regulations came into effect on July 1, 2019, with waste-separation becoming a way of life for both local residents and expats.
The city sorted 9,391 tons of wet trash daily in the first 10 months of last year, surging 70 percent from the first half of 2019, before the law took effect.
Between January and October, 17,325 tons of dry trash were collected daily in the city, down 15 percent from the first half of 2019.
In the past 10 months, 7,637 tons of recyclable waste and 2 tons of hazardous waste were sorted daily, soaring 180 percent and 1,400 percent from that of 2019, respectively.