Her story with "garbage sorting" over the past decade is worth listening to, as she has formed a bond with nature and environmental protection through her love for garbage sorting | community | environmental protection

Aifen Environmental Protection is a social organization dedicated to promoting community waste classification. Around 2011, it began to be closely integrated with the promotion of garbage classification work in Shanghai. Over the past decade, the series of work experiences and methods it has developed have not only been adopted by relevant government departments, becoming a basic work method in many cities, but also a case for industry peers to learn from and exchange ideas.

"How to awaken the environmental awareness of ordinary people through the small matter of garbage classification," "How to involve citizens more in the discussion of garbage issues," and "What kind of garbage classification is good garbage classification," these are all topics that have been lingering in the minds of Hao Liqiong, the co-founder of Aifen Environmental Protection in recent years.

Recently, she shared her thoughts and ideas with reporters.

Learning Chinese in university is intertwined with a love for nature and environmental protection

Looking at the news: Aifen Environmental Protection is a social organization dedicated to community waste classification. It started working on waste classification around 2011. Can you tell me how you got along with this job?

Hao Liqiong: I spent my childhood on the Chengdu Plain, and when I left my home, I could see fields, mountains, and rivers. This makes me feel that all of my freedom and creative nature arise in such a natural environment. It has given me countless imaginations, is the source of my life, and has always made me have a natural love and sensitivity towards nature.

I deeply agree that a beautiful environment can not only bring joy to people, but also dignity and comfort. After graduating from the Chinese Department of university, I briefly worked in the news and media industry. Later, due to my concern for environmental protection and interest in how communities can inspire people's environmental awareness and sense of responsibility, I switched to social organization work in related fields.

In 2009, on the eve of the World Expo, the social organization I worked for assisted the Communist Youth League and the Municipal Greening and Urban Appearance Management Bureau in jointly hosting the "Replacing a Greener Shanghai - Promoting the New Concept of Garbage Classification". The successful hosting of this event not only made the "Shanghai Green Account" a new exploration of environmental protection, but also made me and my colleagues realize that promoting garbage classification in the community is a great opportunity to enter the community, change people's awareness and awareness. From then on, we have formed an inseparable bond with garbage classification.

Around 2011, we officially began promoting garbage classification work in communities in Shanghai. It took us half a year to successfully cultivate the habit of garbage sorting among residents in a high-rise apartment complex with 159 households. This case makes impossible possible and opens up a new path for our work in the next decade, which makes us very excited.

In the following decade, through continuous practice, we explored a set of "three phases and ten steps" for carrying out garbage classification work in urban communities. It provides a detailed list of the steps taken by the community to promote garbage classification work from scratch, as well as the work that needs to be done at each step and the solutions to problems encountered. According to this method, generally speaking, a community can achieve the basic goal of orderly garbage classification within 3 to 6 months.

After 2016, this method began to expand beyond Shanghai and became a choice for more cities and organizations. Today, in many cities in China, these methods have become commonly used driving techniques. This is something we couldn't imagine more than a decade ago.

Residents of Hongxu Community collect recyclable plastic bottles and place them in the community garden for planting landscape vegetables, becoming a highlight of the community. Shu Shuzhe

Encourage and invite citizens to participate and inspire their concern for the community

Watch the news: Accompanying Shanghai's garbage sorting work all the way to today, you often have to deal with citizens, frontline cleaners, and community workers. Is there any unforgettable moment at work that inspires you to further improve your work philosophy and methods?

Hao Liqiong: There are many unforgettable moments, let's talk about the first community we entered, the Yangbo Building on Baoshan Road Street.

At that time, when we were advancing our work, we often handwritten blackboard reports to inform residents of the progress of the garbage classification work in the community. For example, informing everyone about how many households received good distribution on that day, what needs to be reminded, and in what areas the residents of the community still need to improve and adjust

One day, while I was writing a blackboard newspaper, a girl was watching beside me. Seeing her taking it so seriously, I started talking to her. It was only through this conversation that I learned that she had been resting at home for a long time due to a serious illness, "staying at home every day, very closed.". On a whim, I said, "Then come and write the blackboard newspaper with me.". Unexpectedly, she agreed at once and later really helped me write several issues.

This incident has brought me a lot of thinking. It makes me feel that even a sick resident has a willingness to participate in community affairs. Every resident is different. Regardless of his abilities and characteristics, he can participate in community work in a way that he recognizes, loves, and excels at, contributing his own strength to building a better home.

I think garbage sorting is not the purpose. The goal is to promote residents' attention and participation in the community through classification work, generate environmental awareness and sense of responsibility among residents, and transform these into long-term behaviors.

Jobs like garbage sorting truly involve every household and individual. In the process of promotion, we should sincerely invite and encourage residents to participate.

Even if everyone can only do a small thing, the sense of participation and gain generated from it is very valuable. If he has more connections and interactions with other residents as a result, it can not only enhance his social network within the community, but also generate deeper concern and resonance for the fate and development of the community as a "common home".

Wang Shuhong, a garbage sorting volunteer in Hongxu Community, Xianxia New Village Street, is demonstrating the use of a green account point self-service redemption machine. Shu Shuzhe

How to advance towards "better classification" after making remarkable progress

Shangkan News: The Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waste have been officially implemented since 2019, and are considered an important milestone in the comprehensive implementation of garbage classification work in Shanghai. What impressive observations or feelings have you had since the implementation of the Regulations? What aspects of "progress" do you particularly value?

Hao Liqiong: Since the implementation of the Regulations, Shanghai has achieved great success. Shanghai citizens are proud and honored on social media because they have done a good job in garbage sorting. This is a bonus for Shanghai to build urban culture.

I think that Shanghai's garbage classification needs to be upgraded and viewed from the perspective of "global excellent city construction". The impact of this matter should be continuously expanded, including creating and maintaining a sense of civic honor, enhancing the sense of achievement, reflecting the value of classification, and giving citizens more confidence and motivation to improve their classification level, striving to shape a better Shanghai.

Besides the urban level, I believe that the specific and subtle changes that garbage classification brings to communities are also very important. For example, the hygiene situation in the community has greatly improved, the landscape has been improved, mosquitoes have decreased, the convenience of residents throwing garbage has increased, the relationship and governance pattern between community managers and residents have changed

In my opinion, these are all remarkable progress. And these advances also inspire me to constantly ask myself: why do we do garbage sorting? What exactly is "better classification"? What value should social organizations contribute to "good classification"?

This kind of questioning has allowed my colleagues and I to constantly revisit our original intention, and have further thought about the value, goals, and long-term significance of garbage classification.

Looking at the news: You and your colleagues have gained a new understanding of garbage classification, and on this basis, you are constantly updating and improving your work philosophy and methods.

Hao Liqiong: That's right. For example, in our view, firstly, garbage classification is an opportunity for the government, community, and residents to re-establish connections.

For grassroots organizations in Chinese cities, garbage classification provides them with the opportunity to establish connections with residents again. This kind of connection can be a simple relationship of command and obedience, or it can be more sustainable participation, negotiation, and community autonomy. If garbage classification only completes a few data indicators in the end, the potential of the community is not stimulated, and the participation and environmental awareness of residents are not improved, it would be a pity.

My friend Jiang Yifan believes that garbage classification is an environmental "contract" signed between the government and citizens, transferring some rights to each other to ensure that possible problems of garbage overflow and pollution are solved from the root. If we can promote community autonomy, make the implementation of the system more in line with the local and community situation, and then empathize with the situation of different residents and families, implement effectively without excessive resort to compulsory supervision, and enhance community environmental awareness, it is expected to change the behavior of garbage classification from passive to active. This statement is insightful and I also agree with it.

Secondly, the long-term goal of garbage classification can not only be limited to reducing the amount of garbage incineration and landfilling, but also include improving the level of civic civilization and environmental awareness, so that everyone can take the initiative to improve the community and urban environment.

We believe that if we can continuously update and improve related work on this cognitive basis, we can definitely push garbage classification work to a higher level of development.

Community volunteers and enthusiastic residents are promoting garbage classification.

"Good classification" with a smile makes citizens proud of their achievements

Looking at the news: What is "better classification" and what is your answer in your mind?

Hao Liqiong: I believe that "better classification" can be achieved through the following four "promotion" goals: promoting the improvement of citizen autonomy, enhancing community governance capabilities, reducing the total amount of garbage in society, and promoting controllable and reduced total social costs.

If garbage classification work can help citizens improve their environmental awareness, rule awareness, sense of belonging and responsibility to the community they live in, promote cooperation among community management stakeholders, promote the establishment and role of residents and volunteer groups within the community, strengthen the connection and cooperation between community managers and the government, external organizations, residents, and surrounding enterprises, thereby promoting a reduction in the total amount of garbage in society and the total cost of garbage treatment. We believe that such garbage classification work has entered a higher stage of development.

Looking at the news: In the process of promoting "better classification", what can social organizations focus on?

Hao Liqiong: In practical work, we feel that the core of social organizations is to "accumulate professionalism" and truly implement the good intentions of public policies into the community.

Social organizations should serve as inspirations and awakeners to encourage residents to exercise autonomy, participate in community affairs, and care about public life. They should make more positive contributions in promoting community vitality, connecting people, and empowering community managers. In addition, social organizations can conduct more research, suggestions, and explorations in building demonstration communities, promoting waste reduction education and practices, and creating more effective and cost-effective classification models.

If we can have a deeper understanding of the social benefits that garbage classification can bring, rather than just treating it as a means, we believe it can make this work more sustainable and cost-effective.

Four parent-child families issued a "garbage classification declaration". Data chart

Looking at the news: Garbage sorting has completed its initial normalization in Shanghai and has become a habit in the daily lives of citizens. If you want to further improve this job, besides constantly thinking about "what is a better classification", what other suggestions do you have?

Hao Liqiong: "A good classification is one with a smile," not one of bitter hatred and resentment. Smiling originates from spontaneous identification and support, and from feeling rewarded and dignified for doing well for oneself.

At present, a lot of attention has been paid to the evaluation and assessment of garbage classification work at the community level, but the results are not given much feedback to residents, and are mainly undertaken and improved by property management and cleaning personnel. In fact, the results should be promptly reported to residents, so that they can share the assessment results and discuss ways to improve together. After all, residents are the main responsible parties for garbage classification.

I suggest that the community should continue to make efforts in publicity, especially by prominently displaying the monthly evaluation results and improvement suggestions at all levels through blackboards, community logs, resident WeChat groups, community meetings, etc., to stimulate residents' sense of responsibility and ownership.

The benefits of regular feedback are: in a positive aspect, letting citizens know their achievements and feel proud of their achievements; In the areas that need improvement, let citizens know the direction and methods that can be continuously improved; Let everyone understand and agree that our work will continue and we will not give up easily. The various difficulties or difficulties encountered by cleaning personnel and property management in their daily work should also be understood by residents, and together they should come up with suggestions and seek improvement solutions.