Making waste sorting the latest ‘fashion’

From creative ideas about raising public awareness of trash to the involvement of university student volunteers in a garbage sorting campaign, a unique activity at Jinhai Lake of Fengxian District on Friday showcased the district’s endeavors and innovative practices to make waste classification a “new fashion.”

University student volunteers from Fengxian took an oath at Shanghai Fish Mid-Island Park in Jinhai Lake to participate in the city’s garbage-sorting campaign, marking the start of their volunteer service during this year’s summer holiday.

They will shuttle at residential complexes, office buildings, streets, shopping malls and parks across the district this summer to guide correct disposal behavior.

“The work of trash sorting volunteer varies, from the distribution of brochures to drama performance on waste sorting at villages,” said Shi Shaowei, a volunteer team leader. “The advantage of university student volunteers is good energy and expressive ability as there are quite a number of old communities in the district where volunteers need to climb stairs.”

In the district, more than 290 university students have registered as trash sorting volunteers. They have reached 212 residential complexes, covering nearly 600,000 residents.

Ti Gong

When problems are spotted, they will give feedback to authorities and put forward suggestions.

At the park, students of primary schools showed how waste was turned into treasures. About 800 high school students will provide volunteer services at Nanqiao Town science popularization base for household waste classification this summer.

“There is an area displaying recyclable items at the base and we also have DIY classes teaching children to turn waste into useful items,” said Yuan Yuan, a guide at the base. “High school volunteers have done a lot in preparing the materials of these classes.”

Han Chunmin, a representative from the property service industry, initiated all property service companies in the district to play an active role in facilitating trash sorting process.

Shanghai Fengxin Property Management Co manages six communities in the district. There are quite a number of elderly citizens lacking trash sorting awareness in these complexes.

“To tackle the problem, we have worked out incentive packages and those with an outstanding performance will have property management fees deducted, which has achieved a good result,” said Han.