We need to change people's mindsets

I was born and raised in a small village near a landfill in Shanghai. There was a river running through the village－the water was clear and I used to swim in it when I was little. By the time I entered fourth grade, it had turned black and swimming in the river was not possible anymore. In summer, the wind blowing from the landfill was smelly and trucks dumped trash illegally, covering the wetland and contaminating the soil.

That was more than two decades ago. People, including my family, quickly grew accustomed to it and became indifferent to the pollution. It took a visit to Tasmania in Australia, where the water is so clear and the leaves are so green, for me to realize that what was happening in my village wasn't normal. I was 27 at the time.

I quit my steady job in Shanghai and worked for several nonprofits in China and the United States that focused on environmental protection.

Later, I applied to Harvard University. In my application, I wrote that I wanted to change the Chinese people's mindset, especially farmers, so we could develop our economy and feed ourselves while still protecting the land, air and water from pollution.

When I graduated in 2016, I returned to Shanghai and started promoting eco-friendly agriculture. I got into waste sorting in 2018, a year before the city passed its regulation on domestic waste management. My project－Trash to Treasure－helps residential committees and property management companies implement the trash-sorting program.

The behavioral shift toward trash sorting requires a change in people's mindsets. Therefore, plans tailored to different neighborhoods, and good communications with residents are essential. Those things should be done before all-in-one trash cans are replaced by separate garbage bins, which won't do any good on their own.

At first, people misunderstood the nature of our work; they thought we just stood by the trash bins and monitored others sorting their waste. Actually, that's the last step in our program. We coordinate with property management companies, talk to residents to educate them about trash classification and create a favorable atmosphere for it.

Only after we finish all those seemingly simple and insignificant tasks, when we finally remove the old trash bins and ask people to drop their garbage at centralized stations, will they listen and make the change.

Since Shanghai implemented the trash-management regulation in July, many communities have asked my team to help implement the program. Other projects include training volunteers and using kitchen waste as compost. In the past year, our program has covered more than 300 of the city's residential quarters.

The good results of the initiative have prompted a nationwide trend for domestic waste management. I have received many calls from people in other provinces, who were asking for advice.

Recently, a mayor in Zhejiang province invited us to launch our first project outside of Shanghai.

Though it was more difficult to push forward the work there, we made good progress.

Our experience shows that the successful implementation of trash sorting requires concerted efforts from many government departments and strong community governance. Shanghai has both, which is why the city has achieved amazing results in such a short time.

I am optimistic about the future because the central government has emphasized the building of trash-sorting systems. However, I don't think it can be done overnight. Each city has to adapt the program in a way that fits its level of economic development and governance.

Maybe it will take another 10 years for the whole country to implement trash sorting, but we should encourage concrete work and heed calls for change because there's still a long way to go.

Zhou Chun spoke with Xing Yi.