Six hundred and twenty-three rectification notices were handed out by local law enforcement and urban management authorities after Monday saw the introduction of new waste sorting regulations, according to Shine.
The Shanghai Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau stated that 324 of the notices were sent to businesses such as shops and restaurants, while 117 were given to residential complexes.
One hundred and thirty-five companies failed to comply with the new regulations and 39 of the notices were handed out in public inspections.
Thirty-six hundred workers inspected 4,216 locations on Monday, and those who fell victim to the new rules have been ordered to rectify their mistakes and also warned about possible punishments for repeat offenders.
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Swissotel Grand Shanghai, a luxury hotel in Jing’an District, was reportedly the first location to be hit with a notice for failure to distinguish different types of bins and not having bin lids.
Should the hotel fail to correct their mistakes, they could be hit with a RMB5,000 fine which could rise to RMB50,000 should they still not abide by regulations in the future.
He Yujun, one of the inspectors, commented: “Our inspections on Monday were to check whether enterprises put up four types of garbage bins and sorted trash correctly. We will also conduct inspections on collection and transportation companies.”
The initiative is designed to reduce the amount of untreatable garbage, with waste now being designated into four categories: dry garbage, wet garbage, hazardous waste and recyclable trash.
For instance, one of the proposed figures surrounding the regulation change is a goal to increase the amount of wet garbage to 5,520 tons annually, which could then be used to create biofuel.
Authorities are first targeting larger enterprises before clamping down on individual offenders, with over 100 law enforcement teams scouring residential complexes, government and office buildings, schools and hospitals in the Pudong New Area alone.
Local authorities are incentivizing waste sorting, with Zhougu Town in Qingpu District, for instance, allowing residents to redeem points on their sorted garbage which can be spent on household goods such as toothpaste.
[Cover image via Pixabay]
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