China entered the ＂mandatory era＂ of garbage classification.

The pilot project of classified collection has been legislated in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen for 20 years.
China entered the "mandatory era" of garbage classification.

Nowadays, Aunt Wang, who lives in Yabao Apartment, Jianguomen Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, has developed a new habit: every morning when she goes out for a walk, she carries a green bucket with kitchen waste generated at home the day before. At the door of the community, she put the bucket on a light green shelf, on which more than a dozen green buckets brought downstairs by neighbors were neatly placed.

In a short time, the staff responsible for collecting and transporting garbage came in a tricycle. Through the intelligent integral card installed on the machine scanning bucket, the number of times Aunt Wang put kitchen waste was converted into points and uploaded to the garbage discharge registration system in real time. After a certain number of points, Aunt Wang can receive corresponding rewards. The kitchen waste is sent to the treatment station and transported away by special sanitation vehicles. Xing Zhilei, project manager of an environmental protection company in charge of the project, said: "Now nearly half of the residents in Yabao apartment will put kitchen waste into the green bucket, and everyone thinks this method is good. We are prepared to actively promote it. "

At the beginning of June, the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader gave important instructions on garbage sorting, emphasizing that to cultivate good habits of garbage sorting, everyone in the whole society should work together to improve the living environment and contribute to green development and sustainable development.

Only by accumulating more good models and good pilots can we lead more people to develop good habits of garbage sorting and form new fashions. To this end, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shenzhen and other megacities have successively revised or legislated on domestic waste management, and strengthened the classification of the whole process and strict law enforcement supervision through supervision and guidance, so that more people can take action. Some experts describe this as garbage sorting entering the "mandatory era".

Then, from persuasion classification at the beginning of this century to compulsory classification now, what changes will be ushered in the new round of domestic waste classification in megacities? How to crack the strange circle that existed before? The reporter interviewed environmental experts in Beishangguang and other places.

Say "no" to putting garbage into the garbage without classification.

In another week, the Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waste in Shanghai will be officially implemented. This regulation is remarkable because of its symbolic significance: after more than 20 years of advocacy work, Shanghai took the lead in bringing garbage classification into the framework of the rule of law.

Through legislation, Shanghai has defined four classification standards of domestic waste: recyclable waste, harmful waste, wet waste and dry waste. Hotels and restaurants are not allowed to provide disposable articles on their own initiative. For the first time, the whole process of domestic waste has been clearly classified, and the system of responsible persons for classified delivery management and corresponding legal responsibilities have been established. For example, if individuals mix garbage, they can be fined up to 200 yuan; The unit is mixed and transported, and the maximum penalty is 50,000 yuan.

"The significance of this legislation is to turn the previous environmental voluntary action into the legal obligation of every citizen." Liu Xinyu, an associate researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview that the classification of domestic waste in Shanghai had done a good job in front-end classification and back-end treatment, but the connection of each link needs to be improved.

Not only in Shanghai, but also in many megacities, they have joined the ranks of compulsory classification of domestic waste.

At the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 15th Beijing Municipal People’s Congress held at the end of May, the Urban Construction and Environmental Protection Committee of Beijing Municipal People’s Congress suggested that the Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waste in Beijing should be revised and improved as soon as possible, and compulsory garbage classification should be implemented according to law, and corresponding penalties should be set for violations of garbage classification regulations. Put an end to the phenomenon of mixed loading and transportation, and clarify the reversal mechanism of "no classification, no collection and transportation".

The Regulations of Beijing Municipality on Domestic Waste Management came into effect as early as March 2012. However, according to relevant surveys, less than 20% of Beijing residents have an understanding of the specific contents of the regulations.

Wu Xiangyang, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that the revision of the law means that there will be major changes in the mechanism of waste classification and management. He believes that the sorting effect of domestic waste in Beijing has not been ideal, and one of the most important reasons is that it used to rely mainly on publicity and advocacy, lacking coercive power. This revision will make people who don’t classify really bound by law and suffer losses, which will greatly enhance the motivation of people’s garbage classification.

According to reports, Beijing’s compulsory garbage sorting targets are schools, hospitals and other public institutions, as well as commercial office buildings, tourist attractions, hotels and other business places, and residents have not been involved. However, in Wu Xiangyang’s view, "the future trend is full coverage".

In Shenzhen, the "Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Domestic Waste Classified Release Regulations (Draft)" has been solicited from the society, and the legislative work is in full swing. Among them, the provisions on the removal of barrels from floors and the increase of fines for unclassified domestic garbage by individuals by 10 times have sparked heated discussions.

In Guangzhou, the Regulations on the Classification and Management of Domestic Waste in Guangzhou was implemented on July 1 last year, and the normalization of law enforcement inspection has become an important starting point. In late August, a citizen of Guangzhou was fined 200 yuan by the law enforcement department of urban management for failing to classify large pieces of garbage, becoming the first individual in Guangzhou to be punished for violating the regulations.

"Compared with fines, the more important task at present is to get through the chains of garbage sorting." Zeng Yunmin, director of the Environmental Economics and Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that residents should know how to classify garbage and where it goes as soon as possible by establishing a perfect mechanism.

Significant progress has been made in the treatment of domestic waste in megacities.

The process of domestic waste sorting in megacities can be traced back to the pilot work of domestic waste sorting collection in 8 cities started by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in 2000. Among the eight cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are all listed. In the past 20 years, the classification of domestic waste in these megacities has made remarkable progress.

More kitchen waste was separated out. In megacities, kitchen waste usually accounts for nearly half of domestic waste. Take Shenzhen as an example, the kitchen waste generated by households in Shenzhen is as high as 5,000 tons every day, accounting for 44% of the household waste. The separation and treatment of kitchen waste is a breakthrough in the classification of urban domestic waste.

Zeng Yunmin said that the important experience of garbage sorting in Guangzhou in recent years is the separation of dry and wet. For wet garbage such as kitchen waste, some Guangzhou citizens set up treatment facilities at home to break the kitchen waste and then wash it away in the sewer; In vegetable markets and residential areas, the government has set up some small treatment facilities and processed them nearby to make organic fertilizer.

In some communities in Haidian District, Beijing, the reporter found that there was a kitchen waste collection station in the community, which solved the problem of "I classified it and mixed it downstairs" that residents criticized more. Jianguomen Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing attracts market-oriented companies to set up self-picked kitchen waste bins, green life stations, smart garbage bins that can brush their faces and swipe their cards in the community to collect kitchen waste by purchasing social services, and rewards the classified residents by exchanging points for prizes.

"Beijing has always regarded kitchen waste as the main classification category, and has generally established a hardware system for the classification, collection and transportation of kitchen waste in the waste classification demonstration area, trying to attract residents to participate by means of points system, and has made great efforts in solving the problem of kitchen waste classification." Xie Xinyuan, director of the zero waste project policy of Beijing Friends of Nature Public Welfare Foundation, told reporters.

There are also many new models for the classification and treatment of other garbage. The reporter saw in the Green Life Station of a community in Jianguomen Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing that from time to time, residents sent plastic bottles, waste paper shells and batteries here. The director of Jianguomen Sub-district Office’s Environmental Sanitation Institute said sternly that nine green life stations have been established in this street, which not only collect kitchen waste, but also collect recyclables and harmful waste, which are priced by weight and paid in cash. The streets also use the purchase service to dispose of large pieces of garbage on the spot, treat old sofas and garden branches as granular raw materials, and upload the data to the garbage discharge registration system synchronously, which basically realizes the classified collection, classified transportation and closed-loop management of domestic garbage, and the effect of garbage reduction is obvious. In Shanghai, the "green account" has issued more than 5 million cards, and the system of "big diversion and small classification" is being improved; In Shenzhen, the removal of barrels from floors and the collection of garbage disposal fees with bags are also advancing.

"The garbage sorting work in megacities such as Beishangguangshen and Shenzhen is progressing every year, and it is changing from garbage disposal to garbage sorting and improving the garbage disposal system." Zeng Yunmin said that relatively speaking, megacities have more advantages in garbage sorting. According to his research, there is a certain correlation between residents’ garbage sorting behavior and education level and income level, and the sufficient financial resources of big cities also enable city managers to establish corresponding systems.

Break through the strange circle of "concept identity, action lag"

According to the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, from 2019 onwards, cities at the prefecture level and above will start the domestic waste sorting work in an all-round way. By the end of 2020, 46 key cities will basically complete the garbage sorting treatment system, and by the end of 2025, cities at the prefecture level and above will basically complete the garbage sorting treatment system. In this process, the leading role and demonstration effect of megacities are very important.

On the other hand, the increasing amount of municipal solid waste, the disjointed waste sorting links, and the low participation of residents … all kinds of constraints also make the waste sorting work in megacities more urgent.

Some environmental experts said that there are many main pain points in the garbage sorting work in megacities at present. From the source, the residents’ awareness rate of garbage classification is high, but the participation rate is low, which is in the stage of "identity in concept and lag in action". According to some surveys, at present, some cities mainly rely on garbage persuaders, volunteers and staff of garbage disposal companies for secondary sorting. In some areas, mobilization work is rarely done at the level of residents, and there is even a tendency to avoid residents to do mobilization work. At the end, the classification processing ability is insufficient. For example, the proportion of kitchen waste treatment facilities is much lower than that of kitchen waste in domestic waste; Unreasonable planning of waste incineration plant, etc. However, it is a long-term and difficult problem to solve because of the lack of supervision in various links such as garbage sorting, collection, transportation and treatment.

In view of these problems and strange circles, some key words are mentioned in the relevant regulations of cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, such as "mandatory", "fine", "no classification, no collection, no classification, no disposal" and "whole process classification", which makes more people see the hope of solving the problem. And what is the key to really do this?

Liu Xinyu suggested: First, strengthen supervision and guidance for residents. Through the mechanism of government supervision of communities and community supervision of residents, residents are urged to develop the habit of garbage sorting. The second is to make the classification of garbage easy to understand. "In foreign countries, many countries have set up several types of recyclable garbage, each with a bucket, and the rest are called non-recyclable garbage, which is very easy to understand." Third, make full use of the market mechanism and strengthen cooperation with companies engaged in garbage sorting; At the same time, pay attention to the publicity of garbage classification through social organizations and volunteers.

Wu Xiangyang said that garbage classification must be done in the whole process. In fact, if the delivery links have been classified, the collection, transportation and treatment links are easier to manage. For example, he said that Beijing chose to start with public institutions and business places to carry out mandatory classification of domestic waste this time, because the responsible subjects of these places were clear and the punishment could be implemented.

However, there are many difficulties in how to punish the relevant violations. For example, how to supervise, how to determine the correct standard of classification, who will check whether the classification is correct, punish the legal person, the property or the investor, and how to conduct the punishment mechanism within the responsible subject. Experts said that we should rely on the support of science and technology to combine fines with penalties, so that the damage to the interests of unclassified institutions and the personal interests of responsible persons can be combined.

"The unity of knowing and doing is the key. Compulsory classification of domestic waste is the key to break this strange circle. Of course, supervision and punishment must be in place. In the next step, it is more difficult to cover the residents with compulsory classification of domestic waste, but there is hope only by moving forward. " Wu Xiangyang said. (Reporter Peng Xunwen)