Research On The Execution Of The Household Garbage Classification Policy And Countermeasures

In recent years, China has been witnessing fast economic development, and the jiving standards of Chinese people have improved greatly accordingly. Nevertheless, such problems as the alarming volume of household garbage arise, which heightens the urban environmental issues. What's more, market economy contributes to an increasingly higher level of population movement, and more people are pouring into the city, which in turn naturally leads to a sharp rise of the urban household garbage volume, and makes the governance of urban garbage all the more difficult. At present, a large number of cities in China are surrounded by household garbage. This has hindered the sustainable economic and environmental development of such cities and the nearby regions. For long, to solve the urban household garbage issue, our government has been adopting such end-of-pipe practices as landfill, composting, and incineration. However, these approaches failed to solve the household garbage issue, and resulted in secondary pollution. Hence, all walks of life are appealing to the government and all citizens to attach enough attention to this issue. Against this, some cities begin to try garbage classification.Shanghai is an economic hub in China, as well as across the world. Statistics from Shanghai Statistics Bureau show that by the end of 2015, its registered permanent residents stood at 14,336,200, and migrant permanent residents were 9,816,500. The ratio between the migrant permanent residents and the registered permanent residents was 68:100. As a densely-populated city with a large number of migrant population, Shanghai now generates more than 20,000 tons of garbage daily, reaching a record high. Now, with its fast development and ever-increasing population, how to deal with household garbage is top on the agenda of the Shanghai municipal government. Drawing on the success of developed countries and Taiwan in household garbage management, Shanghai starts to try household garbage classification in some regions in Shanghai so as to deal with the waste problem and improve the urban environment better.Adopting the perspective of the implementation of public policies, this study aims to probe into the implementation of the household garbage classification policy and put forward countermeasures. The layout of the paper is as follows:first, the background and significance of the study is introduced, as well as the status quo of the implementation of waste classification at home and abroad, serving as the rationale for the study; then, concepts and theories related to household garbage classification are presented, serving as the theoretical support:after this, an overview of the implementation of the household garbage classification in Shanghai is included, plus a close reading of the relevant policy, laying a foundation for the subsequent in-depth analysis; at last, with Gaohang Town in Pudong District, Shanghai as the subject, based on the implementation of household garbage classification there, an in-depth analysis is made, existing problems and the causes are exposed, and countermeasures are put forward.This study obtains the first hand information by interviews. The interviews show that the following six problems exist in the implementation of the household garbage classification in Gaohang Town:1) the level of involvement of the target groups leaves a lot to be desired; 2) it is difficult for the residents there to classify garbage; 3) there is a lack of funding to implement the new practice; 4) the supporting system for the garbage classification lags behind; 5) the coordination among the related departments needs improvement; and 6) the result of the implementation falls short of the anticipated goal. Six causes contribute to the above problems, namely, the population mobility in the pilot area is high, the publicity fails to reach the goal, implementing the new policy is not easy, the division of the implementation goals has great room for improvement, the assessment mechanism is not sound, and being a pilot, the implementation lacks enough constraint and consistency. Taking all above into consideration, the study puts forwards the following countermeasures. First, to lay down fundamental rules to ensure the smooth implementation. Second, to make clear the goals of the implementation to realize the long-term goals of waste classification. Third, to adopt process management and to improve the supporting system. Fourth, to enhance the publicity to improve the result of the implementation. The author hopes that this study will contribute to the smooth implementation of household waste classification in the pilot region in Shanghai.