Shanghai Trash: Sweeping Up to Lift People Up
What is unique about the program is the use of a positive incentive – small gifts – for behavior encouraged by the city, instead of the use of negative incentives – like fines – for leaving garbage unsorted, as is the norm in other cities around the globe. While this method may be the most feasible option for a culture unaccustomed to sorting, and unaware of its importance, it could eventually prove detrimental to Shanghai’s waste efforts.
Without a stricter fee schedule for trash collection, and stiff fines for those who do not sort correctly, private waste management companies become increasingly constrained in their operations, and may trade compliance with environmental laws in order to remain afloat in the industry. Nevertheless, given difficulties in enforcing regulations in China, the initiative appears to be an appropriate first step, and one that likewise addresses other problems associated with unsorted garbage.
Pre-sorted garbage makes everyone’s lives easier. Not only do municipal waste collectors find it easier to manage, but pre-sorted trash also helps contain the informal recycling industry that has cropped up in recent years. Within this industry, individuals reliant on income generated from the resale of scrap are often exposed to serious health and safety threats. This comes both in the form of bacteria from organic waste that contributes to the spread of Tuberculosis and other diseases, as well as toxic substances found in tossed electronic goods, which get released when disassembled improperly.
The city hopes to scale up tenfold, eventually reaching 1,000 communities citywide, or 70 percent of Shanghai’s population. However, it is unclear what timeline is attached to the plan. Municipal authorities have neither issued any plan on how to address the joblessness of Shanghai’s trash scavengers, once sorting habits reign in their earning opportunities.
In Cairo, the replacement of the informal recycling industry with corporate waste management has generated considerable controversy among entire communities dependent on the industry for their livelihood. These primarily Christian trash collectors are known as “Zabbaleen.” In her 2008 award-winning independent film, Marina of the Zabbaleen, director Enji Wassef depicted the marginalization of this socioeconomic caste through the tender portrayal of one child’s experience growing up there.
I say: why not take the Van Jones approach and find green jobs for these soon-to-be unemployed trash collectors? In fact, why not have them become street sweepers?
In the final garbage-related item of the day, Shanghai recently held a demonstration of zero-emissions push-cart street sweepers. Fueled entirely by their operators, the machines are capable of picking up common street rubbish such as tissues, cigarette butts, plastic bags, and plant refuse. Though not cheap – the prototype costs 10,000 MB (US$1,500) – the new sweeper does what current street models cannot: keep people employed while keeping China, and the earth, cleaner.
MORE Planetwide Enviro Crisis Solutions, Global Warming, China & The Good Ol’ US of A: Go ChinUSa!
