Shanghai Municipal Information Office held a media briefing on July 30 and vice secretary general of the government Huang Rong introduced the situation regarding the "Action Plan on Establishing Shanghai's Garbage Sorting System (2018-2020)".

Chairman of Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau Deng Jianping, vice chairman of Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau Tang Jiafu, vice director of Shanghai Development and Reform Commission Zhou Qiang and vice director of the Office of Shanghai Ethical and Cultural Building Committee Song Hui attended the press conference and answered questions from the media.

Waste management is an important task in building ecological civilization, improving urban management, and ensuring the health of citizens. Garbage sorting is an important prerequisite for waste management. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly stated that China shall strengthen its efforts to enhanced solid waste and garbage disposal and management. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that international metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai should be aligned with the international advanced level and take the lead in establishing a mandatory classification system for domestic waste and to serve as a role model for other cities in the country.

Since 2000, the city has become the first city to carry out a pilot program for the collection and classification of domestic wastes in China.

After years of efforts, basic work has been carried out, which has laid a solid foundation for the whole process of garbage classification and formed a certain consensus in the society.

At the same time, the "Shanghai Urban Master Plan (2017-2035)" proposes that Shanghai will resolutely adhere to the general requirements of efforts to be a new era of reform and opening up and to become a pioneer of innovation and development.

The city will adhere to sustainable development, and adhere to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. Shanghai government will strive to build Shanghai into a remarkable global city, a city of innovation, a city of humanities, an ecological city, and a socialist modern international metropolis with world influence. Establishing and improving a solid and complete garbage classification system is an important way to ensure Shanghai's ecological security and enhance the degree of urban civilization.

How to deal with domestic waste and garbage has become one of the obvious shortcomings for the construction of ecological civilization and the refined management of the city in Shanghai which has been a quite arduous task.

The municipal party committee and the municipal government attach great importance to the garbage sorting work. On the basis of continuous advancement in the early stage, Shanghai will look up towards the benchmark of global metropolitan and top-level cities and to continue to enhance the effectiveness of waste sorting and improve the level of waste management.

China Communist Party Shanghai Committee Secretary Li Qiang clearly stated, "it is necessary to make great efforts to promote the classification of domestic waste, and community grassroots and autonomous organizations shall also be mobilized to contribute their parts to encourage residents' adoption of more effective measures to promote the formation of good garbage classification habits."

Shanghai mayor Ying Yong also pointed out, "Shanghai aims to become a global city of excellence and to strengthen the precision management of the city, and we must solve the problem of comprehensive management of waste”. At the same time, Shanghai is also aiming for the "reduction of garbage sources, full-scale garbage classification, end resource utilization and the enhancement of harmless treatment capacity”. Shanghai will make efforts and strive to basically solve the problem of comprehensive waste management within the next five years.

In order to further implement instructions from municipal leaders, Shanghai introduced in March its Implementation Plan on Building a Better Household Garbage Sorting System, and launched its Action Plan (2018-2020) on the Construction of a Household Garbage Sorting System. Over the past few months, the city has conducted a series of works, such as combing through problems and making legislative surveys, to lay solid foundations for future implementation of garbage sorting around the city. And the main contents of the Action Plan are as follows:

I Target of Work

By the end of 2020, Shanghai will generally finish the building of a well coordinated household garbage sorting system that is supported by laws, policies and technologies and matches its positioning of an international city with excellence, with system construction, area integration, treatment capacity upgrading and result focused being the four priorities. By then, garbage sorting at enterprises should be implemented fully and compulsively while that at residential complexes should be widely promoted with significant improvement in garbage sorting quality. The city’s comprehensive garbage treatment capacity should reach 32,800 tons per day and above, among which 7,000 tons per day for wet garbage, and a garbage recycle rate of over 35 percent should be achieved.

II Main characteristics

Problem, demand and result-oriented, the city will focus on four specific areas:

First is to emphasize on whole process sorting. As the city vows to set up different bins for different garbage collection, transport different garbage in different containers and vehicles and treat different garbage in different ways, very detailed, quantitative requirements have been made to ensure each target will be accomplished before the deadline and by designated department.

Second is to emphasize on whole area coverage. Instead of introducing garbage sorting in a single residential complex or a single enterprise, the scheme should be promoted at a community or district level so as to create a garbage collection, transport and treatment chain in notable scale. Residential communities in Jing’an, Changning, Yangpu, Fengxian, Songjiang and Chongming districts will finish implementing a garbage sorting scheme by the end of this year. Huangpu, Xuhui, Putuo, Minhang, Jiading and Jinshan districts will achieve that goal by 2019. By the end of 2020, community-level garbage sorting will be implemented citywide. Party and government organs, institutions, public organizations and enterprises in the city will also implement the garbage sorting scheme.

Third is to emphasize on broader participation of the public. Garbage classification, being an important part of social governance and one of the basic contents of urban civilization, reflects each citizen’s behaviors and habits. Establish the interactive system composed of grass-roots party organizations, neighborhood committee, the proprietor’s committee, property management and volunteer organizations. Carry out the mechanism under which both in the community and in the workplace， there are specific people responsible for garbage classification management. Stress widespread organization, and create a kind of social environment where residents and employees know clearly and participate actively.

Fourth is to emphasize on more detailed garbage classification. On the basis of Household Garbage Classification Reduction Management Regulations of Shanghai issued in 2014 and Implementation Plans on Household Garbage Classification issued by General Office of the State Council, with the consideration that in Shanghai garbage has high percentage of moisture, formulate the current regulations “one prohibition, one appeal and two classifications”, namely: prohibition on throwing the hazardous waste into other garbage; appeal to citizens to collect recycling garbage to sell or turn over to the management institutions. Persist in two garbage classifications: dry garbage and wet garbage. Aiming at two classifications, quantify classification effects and specify the standard-reaching rate of communities, quantity controlling objectives of dry, and the classification aim of wet garbage and recycling garbage.

III Main tasks and definite steps

First, standardize hardware configuration and enhance the classification basis. Unify garbage classification equipment and improve the whole course logistics system. Shanghai will complete the transformation of 17, thousand classification dustbins, unified configuration of more than 900 wet garbage collection and transportation trucks and 16 hazardous waste trucks, reconstruction of 41 large-scale transferring facilities and the construction of 8000 recycling centers. Shanghai will endeavor to achieve the ability to utilize 7000 ton wet garbage per day and to dispose 32.8 thousand tons garbage per day. Each target will be made on a yearly basis and the duty of each district will be examined.

Second, enact laws and policies and improve safeguard measures. Actively carry out the legislation of Regulations on the Management of Household Waste of Shanghai. The Municipal People’s Congress has already made the Regulations the legislative program of this year, which is planned to undergo its first hearing in September. Issue and improve relative policies on recycling system. Establish and develop resource reuse enterprises on the basis of “the combination of two networks” system, and reconstruct the recycling system. Establish and improve the joint conference of household garbage classification at all levels and the garbage management and coordinating mechanism of the village (residence) committee.

Third, Shanghai is going to strengthen supervision and inspection as well as implement refined management of garbage sorting. Administrative departments will strengthen the supervision and inspection mechanism at all levels in city, districts and towns. Based on the principle, the person who bid will take the supervision responsibility. The city will supervise sanitation collection operation and garbage sorting work. Shanghai will strengthen on-site check of garbage sorting work. The city will set up a supervision mechanism in residential areas, in order to supervise person in charge and enterprises. The city will set up a garbage classification supervision and reporting platform to encourage the public to participate in the supervision.

Fourth, the city will encourage the public to form garbage sorting habits. The participation of the public is determined by characteristics of the garbage sorting. The government will incorporate garbage sorting into social management, encourage the public to participate in garbage sorting and create a good environment for the whole society to jointly promote and participate in the garbage sorting. The city will bring the knowledge of garbage classification into departments, into the campus and into the classroom. The city will also take the advantage of departments of the party and schools. Shanghai will give full play to the role of various social organizations, third-party organizations and volunteers to participate in garbage sorting and management. The city will increase public service advertisements, give full play to the role of television, newspaper, new media and other media to create a good atmosphere.

Fifth, the city will strengthen the responsibility implementation and make efforts jointly. The city will focus on the implementation under overall planning. To fully promote the implementation of the action plan, one of the key parts is to clarify the responsibilities of all parties, strengthen coordination and work together. It is important to implement the management responsibility of the residential areas, the promotion responsibility of streets and towns, garbage collection and transfer responsibility of the enterprises, the supervision responsibility and the classification and handling responsibility. During the process of implementation, government departments at all levels should strengthen their guidance and supervision responsibilities to promote the garbage sorting.

For garbage sorting, the source of garbage is the most important. The city will encourage citizens to actively participate and implement relevant measures during the whole process of garbage classification, with emphasis on improving the classification effectiveness at the source and form good habits. At the same time, all parties concerned should strengthen the supervision and management work during the process of garbage sorting, transportation and disposal. The city will ensure that the whole process of garbage sorting is well implemented. The garbage sorting will provide support for Shanghai to become a global city of excellence and a modern international metropolis with world influence.