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Wang Yuanyuan and her grandmother help residents sort garbage in Jiading district, Shanghai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] |
Wang Yuanyuan, a 12-years-old girl from Zhenxin sub-district, Jiading district, volunteered as a garbage sorter during her summer vacation.
She was inspired by her grandmother Dong Miaoying. "Though my grandmother is old, she is happy to stand 4 hours a day helping residents sort their garbage," said Wang.
Shanghai is widely promoting a mandatory garbage-sorting system that requires residents to dispose of trash at a fixed time and place. There is a designated garbage disposal site for every 300 to 500 households, where volunteers carefully check whether the garbage has been sorted correctly.
On June 1, the city enacted a set of regulations that require residents to sort trash into four categories: dry refuse, wet trash, recyclable waste and hazardous waste. People who fail to comply can be fined up to 200 yuan ($29).
During Wang's time as a volunteer, she found that there was about twice as much dry refuse as wet trash every day. Her suggestion to add an additional dry refuse bin in the trash house was approved by the community.
Zhenxin sub-district in Jiading has organized various events to encourage students to help sort garbage in their communities during summer vacation.