More than 24 million people are promoting the upgrade of "new fashion", and their enthusiasm remains unchanged for four years | residents | fashion

What is fashion? The explanation of "Cihai" is "a phenomenon of the spread of external behavior patterns.". Whether it can become fashion depends on whether it meets people's aesthetic preferences and whether it can be used to express a love and appreciation for beauty.

This month, on the beach of Qinhuangdao, Hebei, five gorgeous and wild style touring cars ignited the hot summer night. People gathered on both sides, exchanging up close with artists singing and dancing in the cars. These installation artworks created by the contemporary artist Ma Liang's team specifically for the Anaya Theatre Festival actually use a large amount of household waste, which was completed in Shanghai and sent to various parts of the country for display.

As the implementation of the Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waste approaches its fourth year, the widespread popularity of these touring vehicles is a strong evidence that garbage classification is considered a new trend and integrated into people's lives.

The widely circulated phrase "the eighth thing to do when opening the door, garbage classification" illustrates the importance of garbage classification. This "new fashion" has become an inseparable part of the lives of over 24 million people in Shanghai.

The latest released "transcript" also reflects the popularity of "new fashion": in the first five months of this year, Shanghai's recyclable materials, hazardous waste, and wet waste were separated at 7391 tons/day, 1.76 tons/day, and 8843 tons/day, while the dry waste removal volume was 16915 tons/day. Compared with the data from June 2019, the effect of "three increases and one decrease" is significant.

Nowadays, the understanding and recognition of "new fashion" are constantly deepening, and promoting garbage classification towards a more conscious, refined, and low-carbon direction.

"Sun Wukong" used the chassis of the short barge tram in the park, which is about to be scrapped. Most of the raw materials for the head are from closed hotels. For example, "eyes" are two electric fan covers and two cymbals.

Many buildings in the Dechu Cultural and Creative Park are transformed from old factories. The old objects and garbage produced by the decoration are collected as treasures by artists. Through artistic processing, garbage classification is interpreted to make life better.

More conscious

Strong constraints on the process of sorting and disposing of garbage, especially by limiting the placement point and time, can ensure efficient supervision of the sorting situation of the spreader with limited manpower, gradually transforming external supervision pressure into the conscious sorting of the spreader's inner self.

However, the inconvenience caused by "fixed time and location" is also very obvious: it takes more walking to reach the delivery point, and it is also important to remember the available delivery time to avoid being turned off at the wrong time. Therefore, the implementation of "fixed time and location" cannot be achieved overnight. In the past four years, Shanghai has persisted in handling the degree of "adding trouble" well, adapting measures to local conditions and gradually progressing.

"How can we determine if this kind of trouble is relatively acceptable? Let's walk a few more times first." Regarding the walking route for residents to throw garbage, Zhou Qiulan, the Secretary of the Party General Branch of Longnan Five Villages, and her colleagues walked more than ten times with a stopwatch.

The Implementation Guidelines for the Fixed Time and Fixed Point Classification and Disposal System of Domestic Waste in Shanghai, released in 2019, proposed that "residential communities can set up a fixed time and fixed point disposal point for every 300 to 500 households." Some people said that there are 1476 households in Longnan Five Villages, so one point should be set up for each 500 household to operate, and 10 disposal points should be merged into 3. But after testing with their feet, they believed that such a density was unreasonable and added four placement points.

At the end of May 2019, "fixed time and location" was officially launched, and the residents of Building 28 in the southwest corner were the farthest from the garbage bin room, but the one-way journey did not exceed 3 minutes. When encountering residents who complained about "inconvenience," Zhou Qiulan patiently explained, "I walked by for no more than 3 minutes," and the other party was convinced.

Photo by Chen Xi Han, Longnan Fifth Village

"Troubles" can be accepted by most residents, and this confidence allows many communities to consciously do garbage sorting without the need for "person to person".

After this year's Spring Festival, Aibo Wucun adjusted the delivery time, changing 7 delivery points to be open 24 hours a day. Except for a few periods where cleaners are on duty, the garbage bin room is not supervised.

Wang Jiazhu, the Secretary of the Party General Branch of the Aibo Five Village residential area, explained the reason for this "bold" change: 6 out of 7 delivery points are located next to or not far from the main road, which is in line with the daily life of residents. Littering outside is a part of the way, so he quickly accepted the "fixed time and location" policy, as he has already developed a habit.

"Timed and fixed points are just a means, and the correct classification and placement is the goal. Once the goal is achieved, the means can be more flexible and adaptable." Wang Jiazhu said that two-thirds of residents in Aibo Five Village are tenants, and there are many white-collar workers and flight attendants. These residents have high mobility, and recently a large number of new residents have moved in. Therefore, encouragement and guidance are the main measures to enable them to conveniently dispose of garbage, provided that they adhere to good sorting habits.

Photo by Chen Xi of Aibo Five Village

"In fact, the majority of residents have a good awareness of garbage classification, but encountering inhumane 'timed and fixed point' plans can greatly undermine their enthusiasm." Wu Guangyu, director of the Urban Transportation Center of Tianshan Road Street, pointed to the monitoring points on the intelligent platform and said that since the installation of cameras with image recognition function at the end of last year, they have collected and analyzed "small bag garbage" data from 53 communities and found that 20% of the bag garbage thrown on the ground has been classified.

This prompts community workers to reflect that the "fixed time and fixed point" plan is not a one-piece solution. As time goes by, may the original plan not keep up with the new demands of some residents with special daily routines, and should it be adjusted?

Recently, the residential area of Fangda has extended the evening garbage disposal time by one hour. "If the classification is done well, it can completely motivate everyone by making garbage disposal convenient again." Party Secretary Zhang Jieyu said that this meticulous consideration is one of the key factors in consolidating the effectiveness of garbage classification in the community.

The Tianshan Road Street Urban Operation Management Platform can monitor small bags of garbage in the residential area and send voice prompts to the responsible person, requesting timely treatment of Chen Han Xi's photos.

More refined

In many foreign cities that implemented garbage classification earlier, the continuous refinement and adjustment of classification is an inevitable trend. This trend has also begun to emerge in Shanghai, which has been practicing "new fashion" for four years.

On the morning of June 26th, Wang Jun, a resident of the third phase of Riyue Huating, walked towards the scheduled disposal point as usual, carrying recyclable materials. In addition to his left hand carrying bundled cardboard, he also carried three garbage bags in his right hand, each containing plastic, metal bottles and cans, and old clothes. "I didn't carry much today, but during the previous season change, I could sort out up to seven types of recyclable materials and throw them into the corresponding intelligent recycling machine."

After the renovation of the garbage bin room in 2021, the third phase of Riyue Huating attempted "ten classifications". In addition to harmful waste, wet waste, and dry waste remaining unchanged, recyclable materials were subdivided into glass, gold, plastic, paper, clothing, wood, and composite materials.

Sun Moon Hua Ting Phase III Chen Xi Han Photograph

Coincidentally, the residential area of Lane 55 on Dujuan Road is also trying to further subdivide household waste. Residents divide wet waste into "pre meal waste" and "post meal waste", clean it up daily, and separate old clothes from recyclable items. They are regularly and fixedly placed and collected, and cleaned up every two weeks.

"The 'ten classifications' that others see as troublesome are actually reassuring to residents, and this sense of identification has made us persist to this day." Wu Huiping, Secretary of the Party General Branch of Fanshengyuan Residential Area, said that the' ten classifications' are not mandatory regulations, and residents need to fully understand and agree with their significance in order to achieve sustainable and conscious' unnecessary actions'.

The third phase of Riyue Huating is a small community with only 154 households, and the public space is limited. Recyclable materials are not subdivided when they are not placed. Cleaners have to put down the recyclable buckets afterwards and set up street stalls for secondary sorting. This not only affects the passage of residents, but also brings sewage, odors, and mosquitoes. After ten classifications, the effect of cleanliness and tidiness is immediate.

In addition, the partial income obtained from the subdivision of recyclable materials serves as an incentive for cleaners to work harder. The community environment is clean and tidy, and residents have a good mood when entering and exiting every day. "It's easy to indirectly beautify the environment with just a few steps, which is also a tangible benefit of fine classification, further increasing everyone's motivation to segment garbage," said Wu Huiping.

In Huamu Street, Pudong New Area, all 169 residential areas have implemented the "six classifications" of Lane 55 on Dujuan Road. The reason why it has become popular throughout the street is because residents have truly experienced the benefits of the "six classifications": waste vegetables, fruits, flowers, and plants, as "pre meal garbage", become organic media in the degradation machine, "feeding" the public green spaces, windows, and balconies in the community; The weight loss of "post meal waste" reduces the pressure on end disposal, efficiently turns into green electricity, and also "feeds back" residents.

There is a beautiful terrace small vegetable garden on the second floor of the neighborhood committee and property building of Miao Tong Jiayuan Community. Resident volunteers use the organic fertilizer turned into "pre-meal garbage" from the community to grow vegetables.

Let residents truly feel the changes brought by garbage classification at their doorstep, forming a "closed loop of identification". Puzzles and doubts about the meaning and value of garbage classification will disappear, which is also the focus of Shanghai's new round of household garbage classification work: promoting the construction of a full process classification system, so that everyone can continue to make efforts in vain.

Since 2019, Shanghai has completed the upgrading and renovation of over 21000 residential waste sorting and disposal points, as well as the secondary upgrading and renovation of 27000 sets of road waste bins. Over 80% of the city's centralized disposal points have been equipped with hand washing and deodorization devices.

At the same time, updating collection and transportation equipment, renovating transfer facilities, promoting the construction of a "point, station, and yard" system for recyclable materials, and building a number of leading level incineration and resource utilization facilities. The total capacity of dry waste incineration and wet waste resource utilization in Shanghai has exceeded 36000 tons per day.

In the urban Yazhu community in Minhang District, the dustbin room named "Zhuan Xiangyi Stack" has been renovated and a lot of artificial intelligence equipment has been added. There are not only garbage sorting games that can interact with residents from a distance, but also 24-hour supervision of the release. "Eye of Heaven" Chen Xi shook the photo

Lower carbon

Over the course of four years, "New Fashion" has subtly changed people's lifestyle habits. Many people are no longer satisfied with correctly sorting and disposing of garbage, bringing this passion into more areas of life.

Carry out the "Clean Your Plate Campaign", reduce unnecessary plastic products consumption, adhere to public transport travel... Waste classification sounded the clarion call for Shanghai citizens to practice the concept of green life, but also has more new and profound connotation.

This month, residents of Sunshine Green Park discovered an additional carbon sequestration science popularization experience hall on Old Humin Road. In addition to introducing carbon peaking and carbon neutrality knowledge in a simple and easy way, recyclable materials can also be put in, and "carbon reduction points" can be obtained by category and weight.

Xu Mingkuan, the project manager of Jilin Environmental Protection, pointed to the mini program page and said that he just handed in 3.5 kilograms of yellow cardboard. At the current market price, he can get 2.8 yuan, while reducing carbon emissions by 1.71 kilograms and accumulating 1.71 points. After accumulating 70 kilograms of carbon reduction credits through the placement of recyclable materials, a 140g branded toothpaste can be exchanged. If you accumulate more carbon reduction, you can also exchange nearly 10 products such as pens, storage boxes, eco-friendly bags, and mugs.

Xu Mingkuan stated that when releasing recyclable materials, in addition to the current purchase price, residents can also see the carbon emissions reduction of corresponding types of recyclable materials, making them aware of how much carbon emissions are reduced when these recyclable materials enter the recycling disposal chain compared to directly treating them as dry waste incineration or landfill.

Since June this year, residents of Lingyun Street have cumulatively reduced carbon emissions by 4259 kilograms by releasing recyclable materials through the "old material recycling" mini program.

A recyclable material station is separated from the Lingyun Street Carbon Sink Science Museum by only one wall, which is convenient for residents to put in recyclables and calculate carbon emission reduction.

Many people are not clear about the carbon reduction benefits that garbage sorting can bring. Deng Jianping, Director of the Shanghai Greening and Urban Appearance Bureau, stated that breaking bags when throwing wet garbage can reduce 80% of microplastics entering the wet garbage disposal system at the source.

A study by Tongji University shows that before 2018, the content of impurities in the incoming materials of wet waste transported to the end treatment plant for wet waste resource utilization was as high as 20% to 35%. However, after residents broke their bags and dropped wet waste, the content of impurities in the wet waste transported to Laogang was only 3% to 8%. This allows many wet waste resource utilization projects to not require a lot of manpower and material resources to purify the incoming materials, but also improve the efficiency of the biological conversion unit, thereby producing more biogas and achieving higher economic, environmental, and carbon reduction benefits.

"It is necessary to index low-carbon behavior," said Tang Jiafu, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment. Only with a relatively recognized record measurement method can there be a basis for measuring and comparing carbon reduction contributions, as well as converting these contributions into points and other forms of exchange for transactions. Otherwise, whether participating in garbage classification every day has the same carbon reduction value as adhering to public transportation every day is a confused account.

Making more people aware of the new value of garbage classification and benefiting from it helps to build a new value recognition loop for garbage classification, which can further improve the effectiveness of garbage classification in the whole society and also enable more people to translate low-carbon living concepts into practical actions.

Obtain "carbon reduction points" through garbage classification, and then exchange commodities to guide residents to realize the energy-saving and emission-reduction value of garbage classification