A woman sorts waste in trash bins at a residential community in Beijing. Much refuse is discarded randomly due to lack of supervision and poor public awareness. [Photo by Cui Meng/Asianesphoto]

Upgrading the industry

More than eight cities, including Beijing and Shenzhen, have been exploring refuse classification since 2000, but so much is still discarded randomly due to the lack of workable methods and poor public awareness.

The O2O platform's detailed refuse classification system to some extent solves the problem of incomplete waste sorting, said Zhang Yuping, general manager of another O2O platform Recycling Brother.

With its detailed refuse classification, Recycling Brother has attracted the participation of more than 3,000 offline garbage collectors in cities including Shenzhen and Wuhan, and the platform's daily collection reaches 300 tons.

The rewards for selling garbage will promote the "trash-to-treasure" concept and encourage more people to participate, said Zhang.

Xinhua contributed to the story