Garbage classification is the new fashion. Here's what Chongqing has achieved in this regard.

On June 2, Chongqing held a press conference on Chongqing's household waste classification. According to the quarterly assessment report issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), in the third and fourth quarters of last year, Chongqing ranked 9th among 46 key cities nationwide in terms of garbage classification and kept 1st among western cities, briefed Wan Long, Deputy Director of the Office of the Leading Group for Chongqing's Household Waste Classification.

What's the secret behind Chongqing's impressive garbage classification efforts? In this regard, Wan Long elaborated in detail at the press conference.

Chongqing's garbage classification pressed the ''fast forward button'' and entered the ''fast lane'', noted Wan Long.

Over the past year, Chongqing has made great efforts in garbage classification, made rapid progress, and achieved excellent results. According to the quarterly assessment report issued by MOHURD, Chongqing has risen from 12th in the second quarter of 2019 to 9th at present among 46 key cities nationwide in terms of garbage classification, keeping the first place among western cities.

In June 2019, Chongqing comprehensively promoted garbage classification throughout the city and continuously expanded the coverage of garbage classification.

By far, Chongqing's municipal solid waste classification system has covered 119 towns and sub-districts, 1,155 communities, 8,503 residential areas, and 4.17 million households, of which 2.714 million households have been covered by the municipal solid waste classification system in the downtown area, with the coverage rate increasing from 33% in June last year to 72% by the end of May 2020, which is higher than the average level of 46 key cities nationwide.

"With the continuous increase of the coverage rate of Chongqing's municipal solid waste classification, the focus of our work has gradually shifted to improving the classification effectiveness," pointed out Wan Long.

Chongqing insists on building demonstration areas for household waste classification based on towns and sub-districts, distinguishing residential areas, public institutions such as Party and government organs, schools, hospitals, and related enterprises such as hotels, guesthouses, supermarkets, etc., and improves classification effectiveness by creating demonstration sites by category, gradually implementing measures such as removing waste bins from floors and placing bins at fixed points and times, added Wan.

Affected by COVID-19 this year, the amount of kitchen waste in the main urban area has decreased sharply. Still, at present, the amount of kitchen waste (including dining kitchen waste, household kitchen waste, and other kitchen waste) in the main urban area has exceeded 1,700 tons/day.

In the meantime, Chongqing's recyclables collection and transportation volume have now reached 2,456 tons/day, including 1,519 tons/day in the city proper. At present, the household garbage recycling rate in the city proper has exceeded 30%.

"These achievements are inseparable from the continuous improvement of our front-end classification," said Wan Long. At present, 10,000 tons of raw household wastes per day in Chongqing's urban area have delivered zero-landfill, and the harmless disposal rate of household waste in Chongqing has remained at 100%.