Dustbins for different kinds of garbage are placed in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. [Photo/baotounews.com.cn]

Baotou city, in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has been promoting the construction of a zero-waste city, with efforts being made in domestic waste classification and delivery package treatment, according to Baotou Daily.

The city recently formulated and issued its Implementation Plan for Domestic Waste Classification in Main Urban Areas of Baotou, selecting two residential communities and five sub-district offices to promote the implementation of domestic waste classification pilot schemes.

At the same time, the city is to speed up the construction of supporting facilities, such as the second-phase expansion project of restaurant and kitchen waste collection, laying a solid foundation for the complete coverage of domestic waste classification in the main urban areas.

To help parcel deliveries go green, Baotou has issued the Key Points of Baotou Postal Industry Eco-Environmental Protection Work in 2020 to strengthen its new policies' publicity, guidance, supervision and inspection.

Baotou has streamlined its management of parcel packaging and the level of environmentally-friendly packaging currently used stands at 75.4 percent, up from 46.4 percent in 2019 - all part of the city's efforts to become a zero-waste city.

Among the innovations is so-called "slimming tape" -- tapes with reduced width. Use of these tapes has reached 94.73 percent.

Meanwhile, the usage rate of recyclable transfer bags has reached 55.82 percent, and all 243 postal express business outlets in the city have been equipped with express packaging waste recycling equipment.

In addition to green express deliveries, Baotou has also accelerated its ongoing construction of 110 green shopping malls, green supermarkets and green restaurants throughout the city.

In accordance with China's ongoing plastic pollution control requirements, Baotou will prohibit the production and sale of ultra-thin plastic shopping bags with a thickness of less than 0.025 mm before the end of 2020.

Before the end of 2022, shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies, bookstores and other places within the built-up areas of the city -- as well as food and beverage packaging and delivery services -- will be prohibited from using non-degradable plastic bags.