President's landmark letter inspires wide adoption of waste sorting

Participation urged

In his letter of reply, Xi said he was glad to learn that after recent years of promoting trash sorting, the community had made new progress, while residents' civility had been enhanced, and the environment had become more beautiful.

Earlier, volunteer representatives from the subdistrict had written to Xi, reporting their achievements in trash sorting, and expressing their determination to make greater contributions to promoting waste sorting and disposal.

Noting that sorting and recycling trash is a systematic project that requires concerted, long-term efforts from all parties, Xi called for precise measures and active participation of the masses.

He also said that the volunteers could continue to contribute to promoting the construction of an ecological civilization and improving the level of civilization among the whole of society.

In July 2019, Shanghai became China's first city to make sorting household waste compulsory. Since then, waste sorting efforts in China have progressed, with roughly 300 cities implementing mandatory household and workplace waste sorting to date, achieving a coverage rate of 82.5 percent in residential communities.

In Xiamen, Fujian province, the rate of recyclable waste recovery has increased from 25 percent in 2017 to 54 percent today, with the resource utilization rate of waste leaping from 44 percent to 90 percent.

In Ningbo, Zhejiang province, the separation rate of kitchen waste rose to 28 percent last year, with both the resource utilization rate of waste and safe treatment rate of waste reaching 100 percent.

The Jiaxing Road subdistrict volunteers said that the letter of reply from Xi was recognition of their work, and guided them to continue moving forward.