圖像識別、小程序……高科技助力中國垃圾分類
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.
中國的“垃圾分類攻堅戰”就像這個國家自身那樣“善於運用數字技術”。比如，垃圾袋上貼着二維碼，可以讓政府精準追蹤其來源。
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，上海開始強制垃圾分類。根據新的規定，家庭和企業必須將垃圾分爲四類，並在特定時間傾倒在指定地點。不按分類扔垃圾會被處以罰款。不遵守規定的公司和物業將面臨信用評級被下調的風險。
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.
嚴格的垃圾分類新規已經成爲上海居民熱議的話題，這裏居住着超過2400萬人口。有人批評該項目缺乏靈活性，還有人抱怨分類方法令人費解。好在中國的科技初創企業紛紛施以援手。
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，中國的互聯網巨頭們爲此推出各種新的搜索功能，幫助人們確定哪些是“溼垃圾”（可堆肥垃圾）、“幹垃圾”、“有害垃圾”和“可回收物”。即使最具環保意識的民衆也很難將所有垃圾正確分類。舉例來說，用來拾狗糞的報紙屬於哪類垃圾？只要打開微信、百度或支付寶的相關小程序輸入關鍵詞，這些企業就會爲你答疑解惑。
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.
阿里巴巴集團的電子支付平臺支付寶稱，其垃圾分類小程序僅3天就新增100萬用戶。這一小程序目前已將4000多種垃圾進行分類，且數據庫仍在擴大。不久之後，人們可以直接給垃圾拍照，通過圖像識別對垃圾進行分類，免去打字的麻煩。天貓精靈也已經可以回答“溼紙巾是什麼垃圾？”等問題。
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.
如果有人太忙或太懶，不想進行垃圾分類，一些初創企業會派“幫手”上門收垃圾。已有第三方研發公司協助支付寶打造出垃圾回收小程序，正在中國11個城市的8000個小區收垃圾。迄今爲止已有200萬人通過這一平臺出售可回收物品。
, Alibaba's food delivery arm, added trash pickup to its list of valet services on top of "apologize to the girlfriend" and dog walking.
阿里巴巴旗下外賣公司餓了麼在“萬能小哥”服務中新增“幫忙倒垃圾”，服務列表中還有“幫忙向女朋友道歉”和“幫遛狗”等選項。
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.
除了幫助家庭進行垃圾分類，這些企業還在開發軟件減輕物業管理方面的負擔。據新華社報道，上海一些住宅小區已開始使用二維碼跟蹤垃圾來源。每個家庭都被要求在垃圾袋上貼一個唯一的二維碼。垃圾袋被運送到垃圾站後，工作人員掃描二維碼，就會知道垃圾來源和分類。
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.
儘管該市目前的垃圾管理規定不要求實名跟蹤，不過，通過這種方式，該地區的監管機構就能確切地知道垃圾來自哪個家庭。正確進行垃圾分類的人每天會得到小小的獎勵。
