CCTV News (Focus Interview): Garbage classification is related to the environment and civilization. On May 1st, the "Beijing Municipal Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waste" was officially implemented. Following the mandatory implementation of household waste classification in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing has also entered the "mandatory era" of waste classification. In fact, 20 years ago, Beijing was designated as a pilot city for garbage classification, but the issue of garbage classification seems to have been a resounding one with little rain, and the experience of the general public is not strong. So what's the difference between this garbage classification and before? How is the garbage in Beijing divided? What about the execution situation?
Although the Beijing Municipal Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waste only came into effect in May this year, Beijing residents are not unfamiliar with garbage classification.
Since being designated as the first batch of pilot cities for garbage classification in 2000, twenty years have passed since then, but the garbage classification effect in Beijing has always been unsatisfactory. So what are the differences between this garbage classification and the past?
In addition, the new regulations also determine 10 types of household waste classification management responsible persons based on different situations. For community residents, if they live in a community with property management, the property company is the person responsible for the classification and management of household waste here. If they live in a community managed by a unit, the unit or the property company entrusted by the unit is the person responsible for the classification and management of household waste.
Citizen garbage classification has become a legal obligation, and the property management company in the community has become the responsible person for supervising garbage classification management, indicating that this garbage classification has become more mandatory than before.
In addition to the mandatory garbage classification in the front-end, the transportation and treatment of garbage in the back-end should also be classified according to regulations.
In addition, the new regulations implemented this time also clarify the standards for garbage classification. When Beijing became a pilot city for garbage classification in 2000, garbage was classified according to recyclability and non recyclability. In 2011, Beijing issued the "Regulations on the Management of Domestic Garbage", which adjusted garbage classification into four categories: kitchen waste, other waste, harmful waste, and recyclable materials. This new version of the regulations further clarifies the standards for this classification.
According to this standard, each community is equipped with classified garbage bins, with green ones being kitchen waste bins, gray ones being other garbage bins, blue ones being recyclable bins, and red ones being harmful garbage bins.
This new regulation does not require the placement of four types of garbage bins in all places, but encourages each community to set up garbage bins according to local conditions based on actual situations. In residents' homes, the setting of the garbage bin station is even simpler, only requiring the configuration of "two buckets and one bag".
Although the setting of garbage bin stations is not complex and the classification standards are clear, residents may still have doubts in practical operation. For example, "What kind of garbage does expired canned food belong to?" "What should I do with half consumed pearl milk tea?" According to regulations, the food inside the packaging belongs to kitchen waste, while the outer packaging is recyclable or other waste. Many people are not very good at separating them, and Beijing's garbage sorting will have a fault-tolerant mechanism.
In order to make it easier for residents to participate in garbage classification in the early stages, Beijing has also provided some buffer space and does not require a one-step implementation. For example, when throwing kitchen waste, it is necessary to pour out the garbage and then throw the garbage bag into other garbage bins, which is called broken bag disposal. However, Beijing currently advocates for broken bag disposal, but residents are not required to break the bag at the moment.
So, the new regulations have been in place for some time now. How is the implementation of garbage classification in Beijing? The reporter visited more than 10 residential areas and found that although these areas are equipped with classified garbage bins, many residents still do not classify their garbage, and all kinds of garbage are thrown into this bin without hesitation.
The reporter came closer to look at these garbage cans and found that there was no difference between the garbage in each bin, and the garbage was still mixed. You can see that many plastic bags and plastic foam were mixed into the green kitchen waste bins, and the red hazardous garbage bins were also full of various domestic garbage.
In response to this situation, the new regulations stipulate that relevant departments may impose penalties at their discretion. Not long ago, the urban management and law enforcement department of Haidian District punished residents who mix and dispose of garbage.
However, the urban management and law enforcement departments are unable to supervise residents at any time and check their garbage classification and disposal situation. This requires the property management as the responsible person for garbage classification management, actively fulfilling their responsibilities, and cooperating with relevant departments to manage the garbage classification work in the community. So, what is the current management situation of the property management? According to the reporter's observation, there are two situations in the management of garbage classification in residential areas in Beijing. One is that there are garbage classification instructors in the communities. People like these standing by the bucket with green armbands are garbage sorting instructors, whose responsibility is to guide and assist residents in garbage sorting.
Although that's the case, the garbage sorting instructor still picked out some leftovers from the garbage that the resident had just thrown. Most of these garbage sorting instructors are cleaning personnel in the community, and sometimes they don't say much when they see residents throwing garbage together. They can only sort out the garbage mixed by residents themselves and then put it back in the trash can, and many garbage sorting instructors become garbage sorting personnel.
Residents do not classify their garbage and rely solely on a garbage sorting instructor for sorting, which is neither effective nor effective. At 11 noon, the reporter saw that when the kitchen waste truck came to collect garbage, 8 out of the 13 barrels of kitchen waste distributed by the community were unqualified and were returned.
Currently, there are over 20000 garbage sorting instructors in Beijing. According to 2019 statistics, the permanent resident population of Beijing reached over 21 million. According to the standard of 1 to 2 garbage sorting instructors per 80 to 120 households, the city needs approximately 100000 garbage sorting instructors. This indicates that there are still many residential areas in Beijing that do not have garbage sorting instructors, so who is in charge of garbage sorting in these areas?
The reporter came to a community without a garbage sorting instructor and found that although there were sorting bins available, the garbage was not sorted according to regulations. Other gray bins also contained kitchen waste such as fruit peels, while the green kitchen waste bins were mixed with recyclable materials such as paper shells. At around 6 o'clock in the morning, a garbage collector pushed a tricycle with other garbage signs to collect the garbage. Normally, trucks with such markings can only collect other garbage, but the reporter saw on site that this staff member not only dumped other garbage from the gray trash can on the truck, but also shoveled the garbage from the green trash can onto this tricycle. This means that the garbage thrown at the front end of this community is not classified, and the garbage collected and transported at the back end is also not classified. After discovering this issue, the reporter reported the situation to the community property management company.
To confirm the claim of the property management staff, the reporter followed the garbage truck and found that it did not go to the location mentioned by the property management staff, but instead to a nearby garbage building. Here, no one classifies the garbage again. The mixed garbage in this truck is directly poured into this truck. On site, reporters saw other small tricycles coming here one after another, pouring the garbage into this truck as well.
During the investigation, the reporter found that there are still some communities with non-standard garbage collection and transportation. In response to this situation, the new version of the "Regulations on the Management of Domestic Garbage" requires the establishment of a ledger system. Persons responsible for garbage classification management such as property management companies must fulfill their responsibilities, record the quantity of various types of garbage in the community, and hand over the garbage classification to qualified enterprises for collection and transportation. The entire process of garbage classification must be well documented. For property companies that have not established a household waste management ledger or have not accurately recorded the discharge of household waste within their scope of responsibility, relevant departments will order immediate correction and impose a fine of not less than 1000 yuan but not more than 10000 yuan.
One of the implementation goals proposed in this recently issued plan is to basically establish a domestic waste classification and treatment system for classified disposal, collection, transportation, and treatment in cities at or above the prefecture level that meet the conditions by 2023. At present, the effectiveness of garbage classification in Shanghai and other places is already very obvious. Although the regulations on garbage classification in Beijing have been implemented, there is still considerable room for implementation in some places. To do good deeds well and effectively, on the one hand, we need to find ways to dispel residents' doubts and encourage them to truly take action; On the other hand, it is also necessary to compact the responsibilities of all parties such as property management. Only through system integration and efficient collaboration can garbage classification be achieved at home.
