The web is abuzz over news of a toddler who, after being a victim of a hit-and-run in Guangdong, China last week, was left for dead by at least 18 passers-by. This is an unsurprising tale to people who have lived in China and witnessed public indifference towards suffering strangers.
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With roughly twenty million inhabitants, and one of the highest per capita incomes in China, Shanghai has experienced surging resource and material consumption in recent years. Less obvious, but no less significant, are the accompanying disposal trends. Currently, Shanghai generates approximately 20,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day. In most parts of the city, the daily per capita waste generation rate exceeds national averages and matches figures of industrialized countries such as Japan and Finland. Waste volumes are growing in Shanghai, and most of China, roughly 10% annually.
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China composted household waste for decades, probably millennia. An agricultural manual dating all the way back to 1149 AD includes written record of composting practice in China. Between the late 1970s and the mid-90s, when the waste stream included little non-organic material and modern waste treatment techniques had not yet entered China, composting was an encouraged and, with the exception of open dumping or burning, dominant method of treating household waste. Not only was composting economically efficient, but it also helped enrich agricultural soils and prevent pollution from waste.
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What can China learn from the 1990s American band Offspring? If you consider the lyrics of their hit song “Come Out and Play,” potentially a lot. NEEDigest introduces a new series looking at household waste separation efforts in Chinese cities, to help readers see exactly why, when it comes to garbage items, “ya gotta keep ‘em separated.”
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China’s internet marketplace offers it all to consumers, and nurtures the growth of the market for secondhand goods. Learn why e-commerce holds the potential to catalyze changes in consumer behavior in China.
With roughly twenty million inhabitants, and one of the highest per capita incomes in China, Shanghai has experienced surging resource and material consumption in recent years. Less obvious, but no less significant, are the accompanying disposal trends. Currently, Shanghai generates approximately 20,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day. In most parts of the city, the daily per capita waste generation rate exceeds national averages and matches figures of industrialized countries such as Japan and Finland. Waste volumes are growing in Shanghai, and most of China, roughly 10% annually.
China composted household waste for decades, probably millennia. An agricultural manual dating all the way back to 1149 AD includes written record of composting practice in China. Between the late 1970s and the mid-90s, when the waste stream included little non-organic material and modern waste treatment techniques had not yet entered China, composting was an encouraged and, with the exception of open dumping or burning, dominant method of treating household waste. Not only was composting economically efficient, but it also helped enrich agricultural soils and prevent pollution from waste.