Cities take action to solve waste headache
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(File Photo: VCG)

Dubbed the “strictest ever” waste sorting norms, the Shanghai Domestic Waste Management Regulations took effect on Monday. The city is not alone in the war on unsorted waste.

According to the Beijing News,  nine cities in China have made their own rules on waste classification and residents in 25 cities would face a penalty if they fail to dispose waste the right way.

Xiamen, a coastal city in East China’s Fujian Province, stipulates that those who refuse to make corrections to improper waste disposal shall be fined $145. In addition, some cities have added credit penalties for the illegal disposal of waste.

In accordance with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, domestic waste sorting work has been gradually pushed forward from the urban area to the entire country.

According to the ministry’s blueprint, by the end of next year, there will be 46 pilot cities with a waste sorting and disposal system. With $3.1 billion in investment, the construction of disposal facilities in pilot cities has  accelerated.

The pilot cities follow similar sorting standards, more than 80 percent of which adopt the “quartile method”, dividing the waste into perishable waste and kitchen waste.

Since Shanghai is the most developed city and has mastered city management, its new waste regulation and enforcement is expected to set an good example for the rest of the country to follow, said Xu Haiyun, a senior official of Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

However, Xu pointed out the pilot cities only account for 7 percent of China’s urban area and their progress in regulating urban waste is uneven. A stark problem, according to Xu, is a serious shortage of facilities compatible with the tightened waste norms.

(Compiled by Cui Chunhui)