Recycling is very important. It helps to lower the impact of trash on the environment. You might help your parents sort things that you are going to throw out into recyclable and non-recyclable bins before putting the bins on to the curb for collection. Shanghai has a waste management policy similar to New York City's, but it is very new, so people are not accustomed to sorting their garbage.
Living in a Chinese residential community, I learned about the challenges of waste management in China. I take my garbage and recycling to a trash-sorting center that is in the parking lot of my residential community. There, I place them into separate bins for kitchen waste, harmful waste (such as unused medication or chemicals), recyclable waste (including paper, cardboard, metal and plastic), and other waste (usually bathroom trash). The problem is that sometimes I forget to separate my waste. Accordingly, when I get to the trash-sorting center, I do not open the trash bag and sort things correctly. My neighbors also have the same problem. This is very bad for the environment because things that could be recycled are being sent to the garbage dump instead of being repurposed to make new materials.
