"Have you sorted your garbage today?" On May 22, a field meeting on the classification of domestic garbage in Chinese cities was held in Ningbo, and garbage classification has set off a new wave.

Once upon a time, the problems of "garbage surrounding cities" and "garbage surrounding villages" were criticized by the masses, causing environmental pollution and waste of resources. In order to solve this "critical little thing", in recent years, garbage classification has been carried out in full swing across China from point to surface. However, some people still have a "three-minute enthusiasm" for garbage classification, are not very enthusiastic, and have weak self-discipline, thinking that "no one cares anyway, it doesn't matter whether you sort it or not."

Garbage classification is an important manifestation of the level of social civilization. As one of the first pilot cities for garbage classification in China, Ningbo has continued to promote garbage classification with meticulous efforts since 2013. As of the end of last year, Ningbo's household waste classification coverage, resource utilization rate, and harmless treatment rate all achieved 100%, urban and rural household waste classification treatment rate was 88%, urban household waste recycling rate was 41%, the accuracy rate of waste classification delivery exceeded 90%, and the comprehensive utilization rate of construction waste was 99%. Many indicators ranked first in China.

From "throwing into one basket" to "dividing into four buckets", from "prescribed work" to "conscious action", after 10 years of exploration, what experiences has Ningbo, the "excellent student", tried out, and what references can it provide for other cities?

"Forcing to do" is not as good as "leading to do"

Early in the morning, Aunt Zhang, who lives in Haichuang Community, Yinzhou District, came to the recyclables service outlet near the community with a bundle of packaging cardboard and two bags of plastic bottles. After weighing, calculating, and uploading data, her account received the sales money in a short while.

It is a good habit that Aunt Zhang and her neighbors have maintained for many years to sort out the old things at home into more than 20 categories, including waste paper, waste plastic, and waste metal, and then send them to recycling outlets.

Why? Aunt Zhang pointed to the price list on the wall and explained the reason: "The recycling price of plastic is 0.35 yuan per kilogram, while plastic bottles can be sold for 2.4 yuan per kilogram; the recycling price of paper is 0.72 yuan per kilogram, while yellow board can be sold for 1.3 yuan per kilogram... The more careful the classification, the more obvious the profit." Nowadays, this outlet alone collects about 1.5 tons of recyclables per day.

Garbage classification is a comprehensive reform involving the urban management system and mechanism. The primary difficulty lies in how to make citizens develop the habit of accurate classification. To this end, while launching a wave of publicity, various places have launched supervision and punishment mechanisms. However, although rigid constraints are effective for a while, inertia will breed over time.

"Only when the masses have a greater sense of gain can their initiative be enhanced." Liu Hongyan, deputy director of the Ningbo Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, said that Ningbo has integrated and coordinated the two tasks of garbage classification and resource recycling, revised the "Ningbo Regulations on the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Renewable Resources", formulated 32 supporting policies, and established a full-category, full-chain, and convenient recyclable management system.

"At present, Ningbo has built 6,206 standardized recyclable recycling outlets, and through offline collection and online rewards, it has increased the enthusiasm of citizens to classify recyclables." Liu Hongyan said.

Different from the traditional waste recycling industry, which "rushes to collect big profits and refuses to collect small profits", Ningbo's recyclable management system also covers not only paper products, waste plastics, and waste metals, but also low-value recyclables such as glass and textiles through policy support, so as to guide residents to correctly classify garbage.

According to estimates, the city currently recycles more than 700,000 tons of recyclables each year, of which low-value recyclables total 140,000 tons, accounting for about 20%. Ningbo has also been named one of the first cities in China to focus on the construction of a waste material recycling system.

Do the "second half of the article"

The purpose of garbage classification is to promote the reduction and resource utilization of garbage and strive to make the best use of it.

This is a systematic project. If the efforts at the front end are not wasted, an effective closed loop of recycling, sorting, transportation and recycling must be formed.

"Relying on digital means, we have created an intelligent logistics rapid transportation and transit system." On the "Digital Cockpit" of Ningbo's garbage classification supervision service platform, the scrolling information is clear and eye-catching. Liu Hongyan introduced, "We have built a community intensive service platform in accordance with the principle of "one community, one plan", set up garbage storage points, and expanded the appointment and recycling service for waste furniture and decoration (large items). At the same time, we have put more than 500 special transport vehicles into use. According to the intelligent dispatch and route planning of the command center, we adopt the "fixed time, fixed point, fixed vehicle" mode, and basically achieve arrival and completion of transportation within 20 minutes."

Where does the garbage go after classification and transportation?

At noon, a number of vans drove into the Haishu District Recyclables Sorting Center. In the unloading area, the staff were busy sorting bags of recyclables sorted by the community, sorting them into different categories, sending them to the conveyor, sorting them again, pressing them, and packaging them. After collection, they were transported to recycling companies across China.

"This project is supported by a special loan from the World Bank and can centrally sort seven types of recyclables, including waste paper, waste plastics, waste metals, and waste electronic appliances." Min Yajun, head of the center, explained that in view of the complex types of waste plastics and the different end-use requirements, the center also adopted advanced optical sorting technology and AI technology. The intelligent sorting combined with manual intervention has greatly improved work efficiency. The current daily sorting capacity is about 70 tons.

In the Ningbo High-tech Zone Building Decoration Large Waste Treatment Center, in the workshop, intelligent shredders, AI sorting robots, and heavy hammer sand making machines rumbled. Some mixed building decoration waste that was originally difficult to dispose of has been made into building aggregates, stone powder sand, and waste-derived fuels through special processes such as sorting, iron removal, crushing, and screening, and will continue to be used in the construction field.

At present, Ningbo has laid out and built 33 recyclable sorting centers, including 12 standardized recyclable sorting centers for living sources, achieving full coverage of districts and counties. Liu Hongyan said, "In the next step, we will vigorously promote the construction of waste electrical and electronic dismantling centers, plastic centralized sorting and deep processing plants, and large-scale garbage/construction and decoration garbage disposal plants to further develop a green, low-carbon, circular economy."

Answering the "national test questions"

Garbage classification is closely related to the quality of everyone's living environment and requires everyone's participation and action.

The road is long and difficult, but if you keep going, you will reach your destination.

In order to turn this "troublesome matter" into a "new fashion" in life, Ningbo continues to promote the concept of garbage classification and popularize classification methods. From distinguishing "what kind of garbage is this" to thinking about "how else can garbage be classified", from carrying out "hazardous waste collection day" once a month to helping various communities set up "circular markets"... Ningbo uses rich content and novel forms of activities to cultivate citizens' awareness and habits of classification, so that the concept of simple, moderate, green and low-carbon life can take root in Ningbo.

Currently, 15 colleges and universities in Ningbo have fully built a "two-network integration" system for garbage classification and resource recycling, and primary and secondary schools across the city have also included this in the "first lesson of the new semester".

Ningbo has also deeply integrated garbage classification with Zhejiang's promotion of the "Ten Million Project" and the "Zhejiang Polite" new civilized practice, and established more than 10,000 volunteer teams for six categories of domestic garbage classification, with more than 800,000 volunteers, providing more than 6 million hours of volunteer service, covering more than 2.8 million people, and cultivating a number of demonstration projects such as "Yellow Backpack", "Ocean Blue Guard", "Veteran Volunteer Commando", "Expired Drug Recycling Volunteer Service", etc., achieving a 100% coverage rate of volunteer activity communities, helping Ningbo's garbage classification accuracy rate exceed 90%.

(Photos authorized by Wang Chaoqun and Fan Yiqi)

Plastic Industry Video