Intermediate Chinese_HSK 3 Comprehensible Input_Where Does Trash Go in China

In this video, I talk about waste sorting and recycling in China. Public environmental awareness is still growing, but not at a very fast pace. It still lags behind many neighboring countries.

There are four main categories of trash in China: wet waste (garbage), dry waste, hazardous waste, and recyclable waste.

And where does all this trash go? It gets incinerated. More than 70% of urban household waste is burned to generate electricity, which is a really high rate. So nothing gets truly wasted.

Here’s an interesting fact: waste‑to‑energy power plants are actually competing for trash nowadays, because they all want more waste to burn for power generation.

But from my own experience, the city I come from is regarded as one of the most environmentally friendly cities, with a high level of garbage recycling awareness. But I see unsorted trash everywhere. Not to mention, none of my family members or friends actually sort their trash.

So what I say is: the reported awareness is there, but in reality, the actual practice is nowhere close.

我为中文发电。
你为什么发电？