Tricks and trends for minimizing garbage in China

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Two receipts and two used masks were all the garbage Elsa Tang put out in three days. She said she could use some of them again, and this isn't even her best effort either, as she can often go without a single piece of junk in that time.

But, just a year ago, before she accepted the "zero-waste" concept－which promotes a non-frills lifestyle that sends NO trash to the landfill－she thought it would have zero chance of working.

Elsa said she was doubtful back then.

"It might be easier in New York, but I was skeptical of how much you can make it work here in China... after all, we don't even do waste sorting well," she said.

According to statistics, today’s urban residents make more than one kilogram of waste on average each day, which means there are more than 20,000 tons for the city of Beijing every day.

Zero-waste exhibition during Beijing Design Week. /CGTN Photo

The boom in e-commerce made things even worse. Last year in China, the tape that went into wrapping alone could go around the globe more than 400 times.

When Tang started to look at her life, she began to see what she could actually do without: Online shopping and take-out foods.

"I don't do on-line shopping anymore. I've deleted all my take-out Apps. These things don't add up to the price-tag. But you have to think of the real costs, about emissions, about landfills, about what you're leaving behind,” Tang told CGTN.

She prefers to go shopping at nearby shops, with 10 canvas bags in tow. She uses lunch-boxes to buy meat, tofu and traditional Chinese rice wine. This green lifestyle isn't necessarily the more economical one, as buying things locally grown and keeping away the mass-produced come with its own costs. But that is the price the zero-wasters are willing to pay.

Tang is not alone in adopting the lifestyle.

Linen handkerchiefs and cups used to save garbage in life. /Photo via Tencent News‍

"We are doing away with disposable containers, rewarding clients who bring their own with cookies. Everyone is happy," said Edith Kuo, a pastry vendor from the Beijing Farmers Market.

Kuo also says she’s impressed with what Beijingers have done. "I moved here from Taiwan not long ago, and I am really happy to see people here too, take the environment seriously.

The other tricks to go zero-waste include tossing away chemicals and replacing them with plants. And let leftover food rot to become compost.

Elsa has now started a community for zero-wasters, who are willing to trade convenience for conscientiousness. Their waste-less dairies are on display during this year's Beijing Design Week.

Tang said the one more thing she cannot emphasize enough is that going zero-waste is easy－just start with the bags.

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