File this in things we wonder how the Shanghai government hopes to enforce: household garbage fees. From Eastday comes news that the authorities may want residents to pay for what htey throw out, thanks to the rapid increase in the amount of domestic waste and the slow catch-up of treatment facilities: "At present, Shanghai can only process around 10,000 tons of waste a day in an environment-friendly fashion, excluding industrial waste, while the city produces almost double that amount. Expanding processing facilities, limiting over-packaging, promoting trash sorting and recycling and charging are all useful measures to achieve that aim, officials said." more ›

The recent landslides in Gansu, which have racked up a death toll of killed 1117 people so far, has gotten the LA Times to ponder the issue of disposable chopsticks. Why? Because apparently, they contribute greatly to the ongoing deforestation and desertification of China, which has been blamed for causing worse floods every year. more ›

Shanghai Scrap has a great analysis of the differences in mentality between recycling in China and recycling in the West. While in Europe and North America recycling is a moral act done almost as a penance for overconsumption, in the developing world it's done because it's economical. more ›