Draft garbage regulation to improve sorting and recycling

The city's legislators are set to vote on a draft of the city's first domestic garbage management regulation.

The regulation aims to reduce domestic garbage, make better use of garbage as a resource, and improve environmentally friendly garbage disposal by introducing a sorting system and enhancing overall garbage management.

The current draft classifies domestic garbage into recyclable, hazardous, wet and dry garbage, and it must be sorted accordingly. If not, people, companies or other organizations could face punishment.

Examples given for recyclable garbage include used paper, plastics, glass, metal or textiles, while hazardous garbage includes used batteries, light tubes, medicines, paint and its containers.

Wet garbage is defined as biological garbage that's easy to rot, such as food leftovers, expired food, plants and residue of TCM herbs.

While individuals, companies and other organizations are responsible for sorting their own garbage out, the draft of the regulation also assigns the responsibility of garbage sorting to certain other parties.

Those parties could be property management firms of residential complexes and office buildings, firms providing services to parks and squares, and the city's airports, bus and railway terminals, and Metro train stations.

These parties are responsible for guiding the proper sorting of garbage and categorizing unsorted garbage before it is to be transported away for disposal.

Individuals who refuse to properly sort out their garbage face fines of up to 200 yuan ($29), and companies and other organizations could be fined 5,000 to 50,000 yuan.

The parties responsible for overseeing garbage sorting will be fined 1,000 to 10,000 yuan for refusing to properly set up garbage collection and sorting facilities, and 500 to 5,000 yuan for failing to properly sort different kinds of garbage before it's taken away.

The draft of the regulation requires that those who refuse to observe their duty in garbage sorting, obstruct law enforcers and cause "serious negative social impacts" or consequences, will see their personal credit deducted. This will affect their applications for loans from banks and access to other services.

According to the draft, the government will regulate fees charged for handling domestic garbage on the principle that garbage creators are to pay for disposal, and that different price tags are to be put on different kinds and amounts of garbage.

To reduce garbage, the draft bans hotels from providing customers with disposable items in rooms when not specifically requested. Restaurants and food delivery businesses will also be banned from providing customers disposable tableware such as chopsticks unless requested.