Garbage sorting is really not as simple as turning one bucket into four buckets

According to the "Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Management of Domestic Waste", garbage is divided into four categories. There are more than 100 types of garbage. Dry garbage is not necessarily dry garbage, and wet garbage is not necessarily wet garbage. The recyclables you think are not. It must be recyclable, and it's just letting people collapse. Although the government has published various detailed garbage classification guidelines, everyone will still feel dizzy!

Some people say that garbage sorting means that one bucket is divided into four buckets? ! However, to do a good job of sorting garbage is actually not that simple!

What is the principle of waste sorting?

The "Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Management of Domestic Waste" divides garbage into four major categories.

Wet garbage: Perishable biomass waste.

Recyclables: Wastes suitable for recovery and recycling.

Hazardous garbage: refers to sporadic waste that causes direct or potential harm to human health or the natural environment.

Dry garbage: other garbage besides these three kinds of garbage.

The classification of garbage into these four categories is mainly based on two principles:

1, source. Let the rubbish go back where it came from. A large part of wet waste is kitchen waste. Food waste is grown from the land and should be taken out separately and returned to the soil through biological treatment methods such as composting. The other types of dry garbage, recyclable garbage, and hazardous garbage are mostly manufactured by industry.

2. The need for post-processing. For example, recyclable garbage is recycled and reused, but toxic and hazardous garbage needs to be treated separately. If they are mixed together, it will not only seriously affect the environment, but also pollute the recyclables and cause waste of resources.

The principle of garbage classification in Shanghai is universal, but different countries have different types of specific classification.

Not only more barrels, but also more rules

In order for residents to develop the habit of daily waste sorting, so that the entire society can participate in waste sorting management, it must not only be based on the consciousness of the people, but must be based on social constraints and management.

Shanghai is the first city in mainland China to implement regulations on waste sorting and management. A very important point in the "Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Management of Domestic Waste" is to remove the trash cans that can be seen everywhere in the community and allow residents to put garbage at fixed points at regular intervals. This article is of great significance for controlling the material cost of waste collection and transportation and realizing waste reduction.

By reducing the convenience of residents to throw out garbage and increasing the "cost" of garbage disposal by residents, residents are forced to form the habit of sorting garbage and throwing less garbage, which helps to reduce the amount of garbage from the source, and also promotes everyone's development. Good habit of garbage sorting.

What was the garbage disposal in China before:

Fine recycling & extensive treatment:

When we talk about waste sorting, we will first think of Japan, Germany or other countries. In fact, our country is no less than any developed country in terms of sorting, recycling and reusing certain waste.

Our country’s unique "waste recycling" industry is actually the classification of recyclables. The waste collectors will classify very finely, which is even finer than that of any developed country. For example, plastics will be subdivided into hundreds of categories. Steel can also be subdivided into more than a dozen types. It can be said that in my country, the recycling rate of this part of garbage is almost the highest in the world.

However, what our country currently lacks is the classification of wet and dry garbage. Kitchen waste is a very high proportion of waste in my country, accounting for about 50% of the total waste. This part of waste is also an important cause of pollution from landfills and incineration plants. In fact, this part of the garbage should not be burned or filled, and it is also one of the important issues that we need to solve urgently. To

What kind of problems can be solved by garbage classification?

1. Avoid waste of resources

my country’s existing garbage disposal methods include landfill and incineration, which results in waste of landfilled garbage, waste of resources invested in the incineration process, and a large amount of toxic gases and dust that are harmful to health. A large part of all garbage does not need to be landfilled or incinerated. If we do not do waste sorting, or continue the mixed waste management, then our society as a whole has unlimited consumption of resources.

2. To curb the generation of garbage and promote the recycling of resources

On the one hand, through garbage classification, recyclables can be reused and reused to achieve waste reduction. On the other hand, the implementation of regular and fixed-point disposal of garbage has forced residents to develop a good habit of producing less garbage and reusing and reusing materials and resources.

3, the need for environmental protection

If we continue our country’s existing garbage disposal methods, the pollution to the environment will be unbearable for us. For example, since 2000, my country's waste incineration has increased. In the case of direct incineration without classification, how to monitor and control secondary pollution (such as sulfur dioxide, dioxins, etc.) is also an increasingly serious challenge.

Garbage classification requires government leadership + participation of the whole society

Can trash can solve the problem of garbage sorting? The answer is no. The problem can only be solved by restricting the garbage classification and placing behavior!

The process of constructing a waste sorting management system is not a modification of the details of waste collection and transportation, but a process of changing the awareness and behavior of waste sorting from managers and executors to each family. It is a process in which the entire society participates widely in the issue of waste.

Waste classification requires government-led + participation of the whole society

Can trash can solve the problem of garbage sorting? The answer is no. The problem can only be solved by restricting the garbage classification and placing behavior!

The process of constructing a waste sorting management system is not a modification of the details of waste collection and transportation, but a process of changing the awareness and behavior of waste sorting from managers and executors to each family. It is a process in which the entire society participates widely in the issue of waste.

The change in front-end people’s garbage classification behavior also requires the government to establish a continuous evaluation system. If there are no constraints, lack of public affairs governance and management art, and just blindly talk about it, it will be impossible to build a garbage classification management system.

Our country's waste sorting management system has just started, and I hope that the sparks of Shanghai can start a prairie fire.

Source: Academy of Sciences

-----Reproduced from China Environmental Protection Network