Focus
Residents reluctant to separate waste
By Yang Wanli (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-30 07:53
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The Beijing municipal government invested millions of yuan in promoting waste sorting in five residential areas in Chaoyang district last year. More than 10,000 waste bins were sent to 160,000 residents in these areas. Zhang Wei/China Daily |
But authorities unlikely to trash pilot program
A pilot program for Beijingers to sort recycling, 'kitchen waste' and other garbage in their homes has failed to spark enthusiasm among residents, but authorities say it will probably be continued and expanded.
"The residential committee sent us free bags for classifying waste, but we insisted we would only do it for two months," said Zhang Rui, a resident in the Maizidian area, Chaoyang district.
Zhang said she and her husband, who both work for an insurance company, are quite busy and don't have time to sort their waste.
She also said that separating waste into two or three containers meant it took up more space in their home.
"We know how important garbage sorting is, but to be honest I don't think our efforts in our little apartment have much impact on the city's waste situation," she said.
Only 10 percent of Beijingers sorted their garbage at home in 2009, according to statistics from the Beijing municipal government.
The Beijing municipal government spent millions of yuan promoting waste sorting in five residential areas in Chaoyang district last year. More than 10,000 waste bins were sent to 160,000 residents in these areas.
"We went door to door telling people how to sort and they seemed to show great passion for it," said Li Jinghua, director of the China Environmental Protection Foundation, which helped the government with the pilot project.
"If the program doesn't continue and if garbage collectors don't keep recycling and other waste separate when they take the bins to the rubbish station, what we did will be in vain."
"I was depressed that our hard work could be negated so easily by sanitation workers throwing recycling and other garbage bags into the same collection vehicle," said Liu Guichun, a 75-year-old resident living in Sanyuanli, Chaoyang district.
"It only takes one uncaring person in the whole waste collection process to undo the efforts of many others," said Liu.
Liu said she began sorting her garbage two years ago after her residential committee explained the benefits, but often sees garbage collectors mixing the carefully separated bags.
"Each of us has only one vehicle to collect recycling and other waste. If we didn't pour everything into the one vehicle, it would be a considerable hassle for us," said a sanitation worker surnamed Wen who has collected waste in Sanyuanli for more than ten years.
"The urgent thing for the government to do is to regulate garbage sorting not only among residents, but also among sanitation workers," Li said. "This will also make incineration safer."
Many residents do not understand what kind of waste goes in what bin under the city's current pilot sorting system, said Li.
"Most people believe that papers and bottles go in the recycling bin, but actually they don't," added Li.
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"Garbage sorting systems used in Western countries have proved difficult to implement in China, so we should try other simpler ways," said Liu Yangsheng, who is a professor at Peking University.
He suggested classifying garbage into "dry" and "wet", rather than "recyclable" and "other waste".
"This way of classifying make senses and can be easily understood by all people in China," he said.
