“One measure alone – banning excessive packaging and recycling existing packaging – could reduce China’s annual waste by seven or eight percent, saving US $ 9.5 to 11 million in treatment costs. Farm produce is another major source of domestic garbage. Of every 100 tons of vegetables, 20 tons end up bypassing the dinner table for the trash can. At present, as much as 60 percent of domestic garbage in Beijing is kitchen waste, a big share of that being vegetables. We will see a significant drop in waste output when there are more clean vegetables on the market and less wrapping on edible commodities,” Mr. Wang explained.

Less Is Beautiful

“The public is the major player in combating pollution and reducing waste,” says Chen Ling, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Services and Image. She might be thinking of people like Wang Wenli, a Beijing retiree. Here’s how he says he recycles or cuts down on home garbage: “Bury fruit peels and vegetable scraps in flower pots. They are good fertilizer after fermentation and decomposition. Try to avoid one-off products. For instance, replace plastic bags with cloth bags when shopping, take your own lidded cup of water with you instead of buying it bottled, and shun disposable tableware.” Mr. Wang reminds us that to make the maximum use of an object before throwing it away is actually one of the traditional virtues, and extends the rewards of personal frugality to a reduction of all humankind’s footprint on nature.

Not everyone is a self-starter like Wang Wenli. “It is imperative to promote public understanding of this issue,” Chen Ling emphasizes, “but living habits cannot be changed overnight. We predict a nurturing period in which persistent efforts have to be made. That’s why we have ratcheted up publicity among the citizens, telling them the benefits of cutting back on garbage … to nature, to their city, and to individuals as well,” said Ms. Chen.

Today posters advocating and elaborating on garbage sorting and reduction are seen on all major roads across Beijing. In some neighborhoods brochures are distributed to every household, and reminders are popping up in local restaurants suggesting customers order no more than they can eat.

To engage public interest in the issue, Beijing has staged various campaigns for community involvement, including soliciting the advice of local residents on how to reduce the garbage output of a household and organizing visits to waste treatment plants. These efforts soon paid off. In 2009, the city reported its first decline in solid waste volume, and the trend has since continued.

A Law to Be Made

Beijing began to curb its garbage yield as early as 1996, but progress has been slow. “Garbage is the final output of a long process, and the culprits are many. In seeking a reduction, we have to start from the very beginning, and work outward, controlling and managing every link from product development, through circulation, to consumption and discarding.