Garbage sorting changes life in Beijing

The entire separated waste transportation and treatment process

In the past residents were reluctant to participate in waste sorting mainly because the waste sorted at households was loaded and mixed again on a garbage truck before being taken away. This will no longer happen in pilot communites.

"Waste sorting in households is just the first step, and the entire separated waste transportation process will be carried out in all pilot communities. Separated waste processing will eventually be realized to significantly enhance the waste recovery rate," said Deng Jun, deputy director of the Solid Waste Management Department at the Beijing Municipal City Planning and Appearance Management Committee. Different types of waste will be transported by separate battery trucks from the 600 pilot communities to local waste towers or transfer stations to completely realize separate waste transportation. Areas with sufficient means may also paint waste transfer trucks with the same colors as the corresponding garbage cans to facilitate the transportation.

Reporters learned at a waste transfer station that the garbage containers that were previously all the same color have also been painted different colors. An officer at the waste transfer station said that kitchen waste will specially be collected in green garbage containers and then sent to Nangong Composting Plant for processing. The processed waste will become organic fertilizer for urban landscaping. Other types of waste will be first separated and then respectively burned or buried.

Promoting sales of separate waste bags to reduce waste

An officer from relevent municipal administrative departments told reporters that the separate waste collection project will be comprehensively carried out in Beijing's 600 residential communities by the end of this year. The municipal government will purchase and allocate waste containers and bags to community residents in order to raise awareness about waste sorting. However the officer also disclosed that in the future, the government will guide residents to proactively participate in waste sorting, and residents will have to purchase separate waste bags and containers.

Industry insiders said that both the trial separate waste collection project and the unification of waste container and bag standards will lay the foundation for directly charging residents waste treatment fees. Mr. Liu, who once lived in North America, told reporters that in many regions in North America and Europe, Government-licensed waste treatment institutions sell waste bags with 2D barcodes at a price that includes the waste treatment fee. If waste bag prices do not include such a fee, environment and sanitation workers will refuse to take away waste stored in the bags, and relevant residents are punished with a heavy fine.

Reporters learned from municipal administrative departments that although the city currently has no plan to collect waste treatment fees from residents, the path of future development involves residents paying a certain amount of treatment fees according to their waste output.

Translated by LOTO