National Urban Household Waste Sorting Awareness Week | Initiative for Volunteer Service in Household Waste Sorting by Public Institutions

Practice New Fashion: Categorized Volunteer Activities

Public institutions at all levels across the country, as well as all cadres and employees:

Waste sorting is something General Secretary Xi Jinping has always been deeply concerned about. “Small but critical matters” are also “major national concerns” that drive the advancement of social civilization. Properly handling even a tiny piece of waste connects to our country’s fundamental policy of conserving resources, is vital to the ecological construction of our beautiful homeland, and plays a crucial role in guiding and nurturing positive social norms. To thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions, directives, and replies on waste sorting, continue to harness the power of volunteers, encourage more public institutions and government employees to develop good habits in sorting household waste, and promote waste sorting as a new trend toward green and low-carbon living, we hereby issue an appeal to public institutions at all levels and to all government employees:

Join me in sorting waste. Reduce the generation of household waste at the source, practice paperless office operations, minimize the use of single-use office supplies, and make greater use of recycled and reusable office supplies. Master the standards for household waste sorting, and consciously ensure that waste is sorted thoroughly and accurately. Deepen your understanding of and support for household waste sorting efforts.

Join me—let’s recycle! Promote the inclusion of waste electronic and electrical products, furniture, and other similar items into public asset management to facilitate their recycling and reuse. Recyclable materials should be handed over to sanitation authorities or qualified recycling enterprises for processing, helping turn waste into valuable resources.

Join me in protecting the environment and reducing plastic use. Promote and implement the "List of Public Institutions Phasing Out Non-Biodegradable Single-Use Plastic Products," and cease using non-biodegradable single-use plastic items such as meal boxes, tableware, straws, water cups, and beverage cups. Instead, increasingly opt for eco-friendly cloth bags and paper bags. Substitutes such as “bamboo-for-plastic” products and biodegradable plastic items.

Join me in saving and cherishing food. Always firmly establish the consumer ethos of civility, health, rationality, and environmental friendliness; consciously accept education and publicity on combating food waste as well as scientific popularization; and proactively put these principles into practice. The “Clean Plate Campaign” aims to put an end to food waste on our plates and reduce the generation of kitchen waste at its source.

Join me—volunteer together. Actively participate in the “Ten Thousand Volunteers for Household Waste Sorting” initiative organized by public institutions, and carry out extensive outreach activities. The “Five Ones” volunteer service initiative adheres to organizational management, carries out effective publicity and supervision, and promotes knowledge about household waste sorting within workplaces, communities, and families, encouraging those around us to actively practice waste sorting.

Colleagues and friends! Let’s join hands and stand shoulder to shoulder, accumulating small contributions into a mighty force and pooling tiny streams into vast oceans. Together, let’s harness the power of volunteer service to highlight the green development ethos, further promote high-quality implementation of household waste sorting and resource recycling, strive to be pioneers of the new low-carbon lifestyle trend, and take the lead in building a beautiful China!

      Energy Conservation Department of the State Administration of Government Offices     

Urban Construction Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development

                                  May 27, 2024