图像识别、小程序……高科技助力中国垃圾分类

China's war on garbage is as digitally savvy as the country itself. Think QR codes attached to trash bags that allow a municipal government to trace exactly where its trash comes from.

中国的“垃圾分类攻坚战”就像这个国家自身那样“善于运用数字技术”。比如，垃圾袋上贴着二维码，可以让政府精准追踪其来源。

On July 1, Shanghai began a compulsory garbage-sorting program. Under the new regulations, households and companies must classify their wastes into four categories and dump them in designated places at certain times. Noncompliance can lead to fines. Companies and properties that don't comply risk having their credit rating lowered.

7月1日，上海开始强制垃圾分类。根据新的规定，家庭和企业必须将垃圾分为四类，并在特定时间倾倒在指定地点。不按分类扔垃圾会被处以罚款。不遵守规定的公司和物业将面临信用评级被下调的风险。

The strict regime became the talk of the city's more than 24 million residents, who criticized the program's inflexibility and confusing waste categorization. Gratefully, China's tech startups are here to help.

严格的垃圾分类新规已经成为上海居民热议的话题，这里居住着超过2400万人口。有人批评该项目缺乏灵活性，还有人抱怨分类方法令人费解。好在中国的科技初创企业纷纷施以援手。

For instance, China's biggest internet companies responded with new search features that help people identify which wastes are "wet" (compostable), "dry", "toxic," or "recyclable." Not even the most environmentally conscious person can get all the answers right. Like, which bin does the newspaper you just used to pick up dog poop belong to? Simply pull up a mini app on WeChat, Baidu or Alipay and enter the keyword. The tech firms will give you the answer and why.

比如，中国的互联网巨头们为此推出各种新的搜索功能，帮助人们确定哪些是“湿垃圾”（可堆肥垃圾）、“干垃圾”、“有害垃圾”和“可回收物”。即使最具环保意识的民众也很难将所有垃圾正确分类。举例来说，用来拾狗粪的报纸属于哪类垃圾？只要打开微信、百度或支付宝的相关小程序输入关键词，这些企业就会为你答疑解惑。

Alipay, Alibaba's electronics payment affiliate, claims its garbage-sorting mini app added one million users in just three days. The lite app has so far indexed more than 4,000 types of rubbish. Its database is still growing, and soon it will save people from typing by using image recognition to classify trash when they snap a photo of it. Tmall Genie can already answer the question "what kind of trash is a wet wipe?" and more.

阿里巴巴集团的电子支付平台支付宝称，其垃圾分类小程序仅3天就新增100万用户。这一小程序目前已将4000多种垃圾进行分类，且数据库仍在扩大。不久之后，人们可以直接给垃圾拍照，通过图像识别对垃圾进行分类，免去打字的麻烦。天猫精灵也已经可以回答“湿纸巾是什么垃圾？”等问题。

If people are too busy or lazy to hit the collection schedule, well, startups are offering valet trash service at the doorstep. A third-party developer helped Alipay build a recycling mini app and is now collecting garbage from 8,000 apartment complexes across 11 cities. To date, two million people have sold recyclable material through its platform.

如果有人太忙或太懒，不想进行垃圾分类，一些初创企业会派“帮手”上门收垃圾。已有第三方研发公司协助支付宝打造出垃圾回收小程序，正在中国11个城市的8000个小区收垃圾。迄今为止已有200万人通过这一平台出售可回收物品。

Ele.me, Alibaba's food delivery arm, added trash pickup to its list of valet services on top of "apologize to the girlfriend" and dog walking.

阿里巴巴旗下外卖公司饿了么在“万能小哥”服务中新增“帮忙倒垃圾”，服务列表中还有“帮忙向女朋友道歉”和“帮遛狗”等选项。

Besides helping households, companies are also building software to make property managers' lives easier. Some residential complexes in Shanghai began using QR codes to trace the origin of garbage, Xinhua reported. Each household is asked to attach a unique QR code to their trash bags, which will be scanned for sources and classification when they arrive at the waste management station.

除了帮助家庭进行垃圾分类，这些企业还在开发软件减轻物业管理方面的负担。据新华社报道，上海一些住宅小区已开始使用二维码跟踪垃圾来源。每个家庭都被要求在垃圾袋上贴一个唯一的二维码。垃圾袋被运送到垃圾站后，工作人员扫描二维码，就会知道垃圾来源和分类。

This way, regulators in the region know exactly which family has produced the trash — although the city's current garbage regulations do not require real-name tracking — and those who correctly categorized receive a small reward.

尽管该市目前的垃圾管理规定不要求实名跟踪，不过，通过这种方式，该地区的监管机构就能确切地知道垃圾来自哪个家庭。正确进行垃圾分类的人每天会得到小小的奖励。