When I lived in Beijing, every day I would pass a trash compactor station where tricycle-bound trash collectors would empty the contents of the storage tank mounted on the back. I would reflect on how having a roving fleet of trash collectors could replace several garbage trucks and reduce congestion and air pollution on Beijing’s roads. Anything that could not be recycled was 垃圾 (la1ji1 trash), and I’d bring my paper, glass, and bottles to independent people bearing signs reading 高价回收 (gao1jia4hui2shou1 [high price paid for recycled goods]). It was never difficult to find them- there were about 3-4 stationary people in high-visibility areas within a 1-mile radius of my apartment.
Now in Beijing’s so-called “7th ring” area, there is a growing concern about trash management. According to a recent Guardian article, Beijing’s existing trash-handling capacity can only handle 61% of the trash produced daily (11,000 ton handling capacity to meet a daily output of 18,000 tons). This has led to an unexpected short-term solution. Instead of developing a contingency plan for improving recycling, waste management officials have installed several deodorant guns near landfills past Beijing’s 6th ring road. This is used to keep the smell down before the trash is burnt. This has led me to informally examine systemic issues with recycling both in Beijing and Shenzhen.
In my building, every floor has two separate trash bins- one for recyclable items and one for non-recyclable items. Since moving to Shenzhen last August, I had assiduously separated my trash into each bin every time I took out the trash. Earlier this week, I encountered a building employee emptying both bins into one bag, commingling my biodegradable newspapers with plastic bags. After asking the woman what happens to the trash, she notified me that a person downstairs 分类 (fen1lei4 [sorts]) it. Except for glass, it seems that most waste could be dropped down a chute rather than having someone come upstairs, mix it, then bring it downstairs for somebody to separate it again.
Most of the coworkers whom I surveyed expressed that separating their goods was very 麻烦 (ma2fan2 [annoying]), but that they’d consider doing it if it were made easier. Readers, what have your experiences been with waste management in China? Does your office separate trash from recyclables?
Comments:
kelly:
I am an English teacher in Jilin City. Trash here…. well everyone throws their trash bags out on the corner in front of their house. A few times a day some day laborer retrieves the waste and throws it into their wagon. People here often let their animals run wild and the trash bags are often torn and contents strewn every where. The laborers have to pick up the trash with shovels. Where it goes after they pick it up .. I don’t know. I have seen many streets with just piles of trash. I have never seen something that looks like a landfill or anything. Nobody here I know actively recycles. There are random individuals who pay for recyclables every where. I have noticed if a person has not bag to hold their trash they will just put a heap of it in the designated trash area. People here also throw all the trash in their hands on the street. Such as wrappers to food, cig cartons, and so on.
If you found out let me know where the trash goes!