If you are in Shanghai and want to throw away a cup of milk tea, be careful. You need to follow these steps. First, pour out any leftover(残留物) into a wet waste bin; second, put the paper wrapper(包装) into a recyclable waste bin; third, throw the single-use cup and straw(吸管)into a dry waste bin.
Sounds complex? You will have to get used to it. From July 1st in 2019 on, people in Shanghai were required to sort(分类) their garbage according to strict rules. Many other cities in China are planning to make similar garbage-sorting rules.
Why should we sort our garbage? The answer lies in the increasing amount of waste we are producing. Chinese cities produce over 200 million tons of waste each year, according to China Economic Net. Most of this waste is buried (填埋) in landfills (垃圾填埋场), which may pollute soil. Moreover, we are running out of space for new landfills.
In fact, more than half of our waste can be recycled. Recyclable garbage can be made into new materials, while wet garbage can be used to make gas, heat and fertilizer(肥料). So in order to recycle better, we need to sort our garbage.
Can't garbage-processing companies do the sorting job for us? They can. But that requires a lot of work and costs much money. Things will become much easier if each of us can sort our own garbage. Besides, the task of sorting might encourage people to produce less waste. Do you still want to buy that milk tea?