An operator works on a volume reducer, which compresses food garbage before it is dumped.

Household garbage sorting began on January 25 on Donghu Sub-District in Yuexiu District. Guangzhou's city administration committee plans to build a garbage sorting and emission reduction system in three months to reduce Donghu Sub-District's terminal amount of garbage by 30 percent in the initial stage and by 50 percent in three years' time.

In the pilot garbage sorting program on Donghu Sub-District, kitchen garbage, which accounts for half of household garbage, will be separated and sorted before it is dumped. Four garbage receptacles, each in a different color, will be installed on the ground floor of all residential apartment buildings. The blue receptacle is for recyclables, the green one for kitchen garbage, the gray one for other types of garbage, and the red one for harmful garbage. Sanitary workers will transport the garbage separately after sorting and performing a quick volume reduction for kitchen garbage.

Separating out kitchen garbage makes the rest of the garbage less prone to fermentation and fouling and facilitates recycling, thereby improving the overall garbage recovery efficiency and reducing the volume of garbage bound for the landfill or incinerator.

Recyclable Garbage  Kitchen Garbage  Other Garbage  Harmful Garbage

Recyclable Garbage:

Waste paper, plastics, glass, pop cans, iron food cans, worn-out textile garments, and towels

Kitchen Garbage:

Waste and leftover food, vegetable, fruit and its peelings

Other Garbage:

Bricks, tiles, slag, sanitary towel, waste tissue paper, and other waste which is hard to recycle

Harmful Garbage:

Used and waste cells, drugs, cosmetics, pesticide, paint, household chemicals, mercury products, worn-out electric appliances and electronic products

(Translated by Guangzhou Association of Foreign Affairs Translators)