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April 14, 2015

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Residents slow to pick up on trash sorting

DESPITE government efforts to reduce garbage and promote recycling there remains much work to be done. Residents in older communities still say they don’t really understand how to sort rubbish.

Last August the city set a garbage sorting target of 95 percent in urban districts and reducing daily rubbish with a three-year initiative.

Problems in Yanzhi Xincun community epitomize what is transpiring across the city in other older neighborhoods with poor infrastructure and a large number of elderly residents.

Garbage bins in the community are filled with different types of rubbish. Residents can be seen throwing trash away without bothering to put it in the proper bin.

“I know the government has started a garbage sorting policy and the neighborhood committee talks about it every now and then, but honestly speaking I still have no idea how to sort rubbish,” said 71-year-old Zhang Runzhu, who has lived in the community for decades. “Knowing which garbage to toss in each bin really confuses me.”

According to China News Agency, the city government has invested around 200 million yuan (US$32.18 million) on garbage sorting in more than 1,000 residential communities in the past three years, including Yanzhi Xincun community.

In the midst of the investment, 49 million yuan has been used to advertise the benefits of trash sorting. Yanzhi Xincun Neighborhood Committee has posted garbage sorting adverts in stairs of residential buildings and on bulletin boards.

“We have done a series of garbage sorting campaigns in the past few months,” Zhang Yifan of Yanzhi Xincun Neighborhood Committee told Shanghai Daily. “But most of the residents are old people who are usually not willing to accept new concepts and the result hasn’t been as effective as we hoped.”

One elderly resident said he doesn’t understand why the work of sorting rubbish has been shifted on them.

“Garbage collecting and processing workers and companies are responsible,” said Zhang Runzhu. “I can put all my garbage in a single bag, so why use three or four? It wastes resources.”

Zhang Yifan added that young people are willing to sort their trash, but overall it’s a tough sell with seniors.

“The garbage sorting rate in old communities is still low,” he said. “Young residents will do it, but only a few elderly people who are apt to accepting new idea also participate. The proportion of seniors who do it remains low.”

Hangzhou began garbage sorting in 2010. During the initial three years the concept was introduced to 700,000 homes.

Of the 200-million-yuan investment, 82 million yuan has been used to buy trash bins and garbage bags and build garbage collecting stations. Each home is given 30 green garbage bags each month for free to help with sorting.

“These green plastic bags are only for kitchen rubbish, but most residents put all kinds of garbage in them,” said Zhang Yifan.

He added that these older communities often have a large number of migrant people, who move in and out of the neighborhood quite often and are usually not interested in taking the time to sort their trash.

In order to encourage more people to sort their garbage, some communities are offering incentives.

Several Zhaohui block communities have installed intelligent waste recycling machines to encourage garbage sorting.

Residents amass credits that can be redeemed for prizes for sorting rubbish into different categories before disposing of it. The machine registers the type of garbage and dispenses bar codes to stick on the trash bags. When workers scan the bar codes, points are added to an individual’s account.

While still not perfect, it has helped and more communities are following suit, including Yanzhi Xincun.

A resident from the community surnamed Lou said the machine is good, but added “the prizes are not attractive enough for most residents these days.”

“People cannot deny the fact that garbage sorting is beneficial for the environment and recycling waste,” Lou said. “It might take generations to popularize the idea of garbage sorting in Hangzhou.”

Sun Xuankan of the Hangzhou Environment Group, an enterprise responsible for collecting and transporting the city’s garbage every day, said: “Improving the trash sorting rate in old communities needs cooperation from three sides — the government, the companies handling the garbage and residents. Without all three doing their part there won’t be any progress.”




 

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