Garbage sorting changes life in Beijing

On November 11, 126 households in the Dongjiaominxiang area, Dongcheng District, each received two separate waste containers in different colors and 100 waste bags in corresponding colors free of charge. This is the first time that Beijing has allocated separate waste containers to pilot communities. All of the 300,000 households in Beijing's 600 pilot communities will use the separate waste containers by the end of this year, which will help to reduce waste at the source.

Garbage sorting changes life in Beijing

Waste should be placed in separate containers of different colors

On the afternoon of November 11, grandma Song who lives in the Dongjiaominxiang area received separate waste containers from local government. On her way home she frequently muttered to herself, "Kitchen waste should be placed in the green container, and other types of waste in the gray container…" She told reporters that the community in which she lives has long carried out waste sorting, but she was afraid that she was too old to remember the rules.

Reporters found two waste containers side by side already in Song's home, one larger than the other. "I used to dispose of waste using old-fashioned methods before we received different colored containers from the government, but now I simply throw kitchen waste into the larger container without getting confused," said Song. It is a good method for her to separate waste according to the container colors, as seeing a green bag on a green container makes her easy to know into which container she should place kitchen waste.

A senior community environment and sanitation worker said that residents will use uniform 10-liter separate waste containers and bags in the future. The green bags on the green containers are specially for kitchen waste; while the white bags on the gray or other colored containers are for other types of waste. It is easy to distinguish the bags to avoid mixing waste. The free waste bags allocated to residents all are made from degradable, environmentally-friendly materials.

Aside from household waste containers, community trash cans have also been painted different colors and labels indicating kitchen, recyclable and other types of waste have been pasted on, helping residents know into which container they should place their waste.