Classifying garbage for improving well-being in rural People’s Republic of China

Abstract

The amount of waste produced in the rural areas of many developing Asian countries has increased dramatically over the last 50 years. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) generates the most domestic waste (garbage) globally. Official data show that the quantity of garbage collected and transported in the PRC rose from 25.08 million tons in 1979 to 316.60 million tons in 2021 (MHURD 2022). More strikingly, historically known to generate relatively small amounts of garbage, rural areas are driving the PRC’s “garbage siege” (Zheng et al. 2022). In 2021, the total volume of rural garbage in the PRC reached an alarming 561 million tons (Insight and Info Consulting 2022), while only a relatively small fraction (around 40%–70%) of it was managed properly (Wang and Hao 2020).