Garbage recycling picks up among students in Chengdu
By Zhang Boning
China Daily, 04-04-2018
Children at a kindergarten in Chengdu hand an Aobag bag to the company's staff members who collect recyclable garbage every week. [Photo by Andrew Wong/For China Daily]
When Wang Jianchao was a child, he used to pick up discarded metal cans from the streets and sell them for money to buy snacks. His father, from time to time, then used to caution him, saying: "You need to study hard, or you will be left with no choice but to pick up garbage when you grow up."
Wang, born in 1980, then went on to become an engineer working for Microsoft in 2005. But this did not prevent his father's prophecy from coming true.
After quitting his job at Microsoft five years later, Wang started to deal with garbage.
He launched a technology-based garbage recycling unit called Aobag in March 2017 in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, to encourage recycling.
His company now collects recyclable garbage from its members and sells it to paper mills and manufacturers of milk cartons. A portion of the money made from the sales is then transferred to the trash provider.
So far, Aobag has more than 2,000 members, including not only adults but also students from kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.
Aobag established a relationship with the Experimental Primary School of Sichuan Normal University in September.
Speaking about the link, Gao Tao, the school's vice-principal, says: "Our communities have not done well in garbage recycling, so, we hope that by teaching children about this, we can make a difference."
Wang Jianchao (left) and his colleagues sort out the garbage in the same city. [Photo by Andrew Wong/For China Daily]
According to a research by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences from 2015, one-third of Chinese residents do not separate recyclable trash. Consequently, this leads to the low recycling of municipal waste as garbage companies have to burn or bury recyclable garbage along with the content that cannot be recycled.
Last year, the State Council, China's cabinet, announced a plan that sets the goal of recycling 35 percent of all garbage by 2020.
Wang felt he could contribute to this. So he designed a rubbish bag to collect recyclable garbage.
Each bag his company provides comes with a distinct QR code. And by scanning the code, users can register for such an item on WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging app.
When a bag from the company is returned to Aobag, its owner will know the weight of the trash and get a share of the money earned from it on WeChat.
Now, each class at the Experimental Primary School of Sichuan Normal University has an account.
So far, the 2,500 students at the school have made 16,500 yuan ($2,600) from 16,300 kilograms of trash, mostly paper and plastic, according to Aobag.
Recycling this amount of garbage means saving 250 trees or reducing the emission of carbon dioxide by 28 tons, says Aobag.
One heartening feature of the recycling exercise is the enthusiasm of the students' community.
Many of the students in boarding schools involved in the program now cut open used milk cartons, wash them clean and then air-dry them in their classrooms.
As for the other students, they influence their families.
So, most of them bring paper boxes from home, ensuring that they are recycled instead of just being thrown away.
While Wang has found success in schools, his efforts are still developing in Chengdu's universities, mainly due to financial reasons. The cost of buying Aobag bags and building collection points for the entire university will be huge.
Interestingly, an environmental protection project known as the Sustainable Urban System Program at Sichuan University hopes that the money they collect from selling recyclable garbage could be used to help poverty-stricken students in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture of the province.
The university's program stipulates that if all 40,000 students on campus take part in this recycling activity, the money generated could be used to set up a scholarship fund, supporting 70 to 100 students over their nine-year compulsory education, covering primary school and junior middle school.
The team is now working on another plan so that the university can afford the price, says Wang Yueyue, a junior student at Sichuan University, who is also the leader of the project.
Besides students, Aobag is also working with shopping malls in Chengdu.
The supermarket Ito Yokado is expected to open a recycling station at its mall where people can buy Aobag bags and hand in recyclable garbage.
Cleaners at Ito Yokado have already started using such bags for recyclable trash. And they exchange the garbage for money as individual users.
Earlier this year, Aobag launched a branch office in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.
Speaking about his plans, Wang says: "Effective garbage recycling is the new trend. And as more modern cities develop, the demand for recycling will get stronger."
By Zhang Boning
China Daily, 04-04-2018
Children at a kindergarten in Chengdu hand an Aobag bag to the company's staff members who collect recyclable garbage every week. [Photo by Andrew Wong/For China Daily]
When Wang Jianchao was a child, he used to pick up discarded metal cans from the streets and sell them for money to buy snacks. His father, from time to time, then used to caution him, saying: "You need to study hard, or you will be left with no choice but to pick up garbage when you grow up."
Wang, born in 1980, then went on to become an engineer working for Microsoft in 2005. But this did not prevent his father's prophecy from coming true.
After quitting his job at Microsoft five years later, Wang started to deal with garbage.
He launched a technology-based garbage recycling unit called Aobag in March 2017 in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, to encourage recycling.
His company now collects recyclable garbage from its members and sells it to paper mills and manufacturers of milk cartons. A portion of the money made from the sales is then transferred to the trash provider.
So far, Aobag has more than 2,000 members, including not only adults but also students from kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.
Aobag established a relationship with the Experimental Primary School of Sichuan Normal University in September.
Speaking about the link, Gao Tao, the school's vice-principal, says: "Our communities have not done well in garbage recycling, so, we hope that by teaching children about this, we can make a difference."
Wang Jianchao (left) and his colleagues sort out the garbage in the same city. [Photo by Andrew Wong/For China Daily]
According to a research by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences from 2015, one-third of Chinese residents do not separate recyclable trash. Consequently, this leads to the low recycling of municipal waste as garbage companies have to burn or bury recyclable garbage along with the content that cannot be recycled.
Last year, the State Council, China's cabinet, announced a plan that sets the goal of recycling 35 percent of all garbage by 2020.
Wang felt he could contribute to this. So he designed a rubbish bag to collect recyclable garbage.
Each bag his company provides comes with a distinct QR code. And by scanning the code, users can register for such an item on WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging app.
When a bag from the company is returned to Aobag, its owner will know the weight of the trash and get a share of the money earned from it on WeChat.
Now, each class at the Experimental Primary School of Sichuan Normal University has an account.
So far, the 2,500 students at the school have made 16,500 yuan ($2,600) from 16,300 kilograms of trash, mostly paper and plastic, according to Aobag.
Recycling this amount of garbage means saving 250 trees or reducing the emission of carbon dioxide by 28 tons, says Aobag.
One heartening feature of the recycling exercise is the enthusiasm of the students' community.
Many of the students in boarding schools involved in the program now cut open used milk cartons, wash them clean and then air-dry them in their classrooms.
As for the other students, they influence their families.
So, most of them bring paper boxes from home, ensuring that they are recycled instead of just being thrown away.
While Wang has found success in schools, his efforts are still developing in Chengdu's universities, mainly due to financial reasons. The cost of buying Aobag bags and building collection points for the entire university will be huge.
Interestingly, an environmental protection project known as the Sustainable Urban System Program at Sichuan University hopes that the money they collect from selling recyclable garbage could be used to help poverty-stricken students in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture of the province.
The university's program stipulates that if all 40,000 students on campus take part in this recycling activity, the money generated could be used to set up a scholarship fund, supporting 70 to 100 students over their nine-year compulsory education, covering primary school and junior middle school.
The team is now working on another plan so that the university can afford the price, says Wang Yueyue, a junior student at Sichuan University, who is also the leader of the project.
Besides students, Aobag is also working with shopping malls in Chengdu.
The supermarket Ito Yokado is expected to open a recycling station at its mall where people can buy Aobag bags and hand in recyclable garbage.
Cleaners at Ito Yokado have already started using such bags for recyclable trash. And they exchange the garbage for money as individual users.
Earlier this year, Aobag launched a branch office in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.
Speaking about his plans, Wang says: "Effective garbage recycling is the new trend. And as more modern cities develop, the demand for recycling will get stronger."
