Time to Learn How to Sort
Whatever we don't want —- no matter whether it's eggshells, newspapers, soda cans or old socks —- it's all garbage. And garbage goes to the garbage bin. There seems to be wrong with that. But do you really know how to throw away garbage properly?
China (promote) garbage sorting for over a decade, but for the majority of the public the concept hasn't sunk in. Shenzhen issued a new regulation. It says residents will be fined up to 100 yuan and organizations 1,000 yuan for not sorting rubbish specific groups.
"It's evident that the government is determined to push this forward," said Zhang Ning, a program officer (serve) in a Beijing-based public welfare organization. "But I'm afraid the regulation will prove to be counter-productive because garbage sorting has never been achieved by merely imposing severe punishments."
A recent survey found that 49.5 percent of the respondents said they still don't know how to sort garbage, 45.5percent just can't be bothered to do it. "Lots of citizens (confuse)about what's recyclable and what's general waste. For example, it's scarcely known that tissue is non-recyclable because it's too moisture-prone and usually too polluted (recycle)." said Zhang, a representative.
According to Zhang, 70 percent of garbage is a " (misplace)resource". For instance, a ton of waste steel can be refined into 0.9 tons of usable steel, and a ton of kitchen waste is able to produce 0.3 tons of organic fertilizer.
But all of this is based on the condition the garbage is categorized properly. And the behavior of households the sorting process initially starts —- is the key. Garbage sorting is a chain effect. Misconduct at the very beginning will make all the following efforts go in vain.
Garbage sorting is a complex issue and takes patience. So next time when you throw away what is called "garbage", do it in the right way.
