Shanghai making strides in trash management

The average amount of food waste collected from restaurants and households daily was 9,600 tons in June, up 38 percent year-on-year. This waste is transported to treatment facilities to be turned into biogas, fertilizer and soil conditioner.

According to the administration, 6,800 tons of recyclables are being collected in Shanghai per day in June, up 71 percent from last year.

At Pujin subdistrict in Minhang, a recyclable transfer center was put into operation in December. Residents of Pujin can either use a WeChat mini app to request for workers to pick up their recyclables or deposit these items at a designated trash station in their neighborhood.

At the transfer center, recyclables are compressed before they are sold to big processing plants to be turned into recycled materials again. The facility collects about 85 tons of discarded glass, textile, plastics, paper and metals every week.

The administration will also approve the construction of 170 transfer centers, like the one in Pujin, and 6,000 smaller collection stations, said Deng.

Trash that is not recyclable, food or hazardous are currently burned at incinerators in Laogang Ecological and Environmental Protection Base instead of deposited at landfills.