Sales of trash cans boomed as Shanghai's regulation on household garbage sorting and recycling took effect on Monday, chinanews.com reported.

A screenshot of garbage sorting containers that can store dry waste, wet waste and recyclable waste sold on Taobao. (Photo: China Daily)

Data from e-commerce portal Taobao shows that 3 million trash cans were sold in June, which means more than one trash can was sold per second. Sales between June 24 and 30, a week before the regulation took effect, went up 50 percent compared to the same period last year. Sellers based in Shanghai saw sales triple, a possible reason is that their location offered the fastest way for Shanghai residents to receive the trash cans.

Containers that can store dry waste, wet waste and recyclable waste all-in-one sold like hot cakes. Data from e-commerce platform Tmall shows that the sales of garbage sorting containers increased by more than 500 percent in June year-on-year. Searches of the key words "garbage sorting containers" went up by 3,000 percent year-on-year in June.

A garbage sorting container is priced between 150 yuan to 300 yuan, compared to an ordinary trash can, which usually costs 10-20 yuan. Some sellers even set a buying quota of one garbage sorting container for each buyer due to large demand.

Some stores were considerate, saying they would deliver garbage sorting containers to Shanghai buyers first because those customers are in urgent need.