SHANGHAI, July 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Nie Feng used to toss his rubbish
outside his Shanghai flat without a thought while rushing to work, but saving
China from a garbage crisis now requires him to consult a complex diagram
each morning.
On July 1, Shanghai launched China’s most ambitious garbage separation and
recycling programme ever, as the country confronts a rising tide of trash
created by increasing consumption.
But the programme is the talk of China’s biggest city for other reasons as
well: confusion over rules and fines for infractions, and thousands of
volunteers inspecting citizens’ private garbage each day.
Nie examines a wall-sized diagram saying fish and pork bones must be
separated from each other, and from the plastic bag he carries them in.
“It’s for the good of our homeland, but we keep making mistakes,” said
Nie, a trading company staffer, laughing as he struggled to separate the
bag’s contents into various bins.
“We have to get this right before the fines really start.”
Shanghai is piloting a programme set for eventual nationwide adoption in
what would likely be the world’s largest waste separation and recycling
scheme — and it is desperately needed.
With its 1.4 billion consumers, China is becoming swamped by trash. Every
day, Shanghai’s 25 million people alone produce around 26,000 tonnes — equal
in weight to the Statue of Liberty.
The issue is straining municipal services nationwide and prompting unrest.
– Growing anger –
Last week authorities in the central city of Wuhan sent riot police to
quell protests by thousands of citizens against construction of a waste
incinerator.
China is spending billions of dollars on waste-to-energy incineration
plants across the country, but repeated protests have flared over fears they
will emit toxins. Wuhan has shelved its plan, for now.
China produced just 30 million tonnes of trash in 1980, but that soared to
210 million in 2017, according to World Bank figures.
That is still less than the world’s trash titan, the United States, which
produced 258 million tonnes. But China is gaining fast and the World Bank
predicts Chinese garbage could reach a staggering 500 million tonnes annually
by 2030.
Several factors are blamed, including rapid growth and the Communist
Party’s ongoing push to develop a domestic consumer economy to lessen
reliance on the outside world.
Led by the likes of Alibaba, Chinese e-commerce has exploded, producing
billions of parcel deliveries annually with their associated packaging.
The government indicated its alarm last year by banning certain imports of
foreign waste that it used to accept for years for recycling, a move that has
up-ended global garbage flows.
“We need a really big push and I think the government realised that. There
is really a sense of urgency,” said Alizee Buysschaert, founder and director
of environmental consultancy Zero Waste Shanghai.
With a phased national roll-out set to gain pace next year, Shanghai’s
experience has become one of the most talked-about topics in the country,
though sometimes for the wrong reasons.
Critics have taken aim at seemingly contradictory sorting guidelines and
the limited daily hours during which dumping is allowed, which causes
problems for those with irregular schedules.
Chinese media reports also have indicated that a lot of garbage was still
entering bins unsorted.
Government officials declined AFP interview requests.
– ‘So much rubbish’ –
Previous city-level sorting schemes have fizzled, but Buysschaert sees a
difference this time.
“The big shift is that it is much more centralised and it’s incentivised
now. That’s really a game-changer because now everyone is talking about it
and everyone is involved and on their toes,” she said.
Authorities say strict sorting is crucial, making it far easier to
separately process recycled items, hazardous waste, compost and biomass.
But tempers have flared. Chinese media said a 33-year-old woman was
detained last week for choking a volunteer sorting inspector unconscious
during a rules dispute.
Fines range from 200 yuan ($29) for household infractions to 50,000 yuan
for businesses, though authorities are going easy on imposing them for now.
The scheme is a business opportunity for others, with start-ups offering
app-based garbage collection and sorting services.
True to form, the Communist Party is pushing obeisance via a public
campaign larded with red banners emblazoned with revolutionary exhortations
such as “storm the citadel of trash sorting.”
“We weren’t used to it at first. It was really inconvenient,” said 67-
year-old pensioner Zhou Shenzhu.
But she has been won over by a noticeable reduction in flies and odour
since sorting started, she says.
“The propaganda on television says we face great harm if we don’t
separate.”
“Shanghai has lots of people, and so much rubbish. So much!”