Since Shanghai implemented its waste sorting system, this question has become the most common icebreaker on the streets, echoing through every corner of the city.

A Soul-Stirring Question from Shanghai’s Aunties

A simple phrase, yet brimming with warmth and familiarity. It speaks to the confidence of the locals, who have fully embraced waste sorting as part of their daily lives. This phrase symbolizes a larger societal shift, highlighting the efforts of a vast country toward creating more environmentally conscious practices. And in typical fashion, Shanghai’s citizens have also come up with some ingenious tips and tricks to make the whole process a little bit easier.

Did you know that the world generates around 2.1 billion tons of solid waste every year? Over the past 60 to 70 years, humanity has produced roughly 8.3 billion tons of plastic waste! Unfortunately, the pace of waste management is constantly trailing behind the speed at which we produce trash.

Some say that the mess we’re dealing with today is the result of our ancestors’ neglect. But hold on—before we start pointing fingers, let’s take a look at how our ancestors dealt with trash long before it became a global issue. You see, China’s environmental efforts stretch back thousands of years!

Trash in Ancient Times: A Simpler Era

In ancient times, waste was mainly kitchen scraps and human waste. However, due to the scarcity of food, there wasn’t much to waste in the first place.

People often took their leftover food to the outskirts of the city and, sometimes, out of the kindness of their hearts, they would dig a hole and bury it. Over time, these scraps decomposed and turned into fertile soil.

Interestingly, during archaeological digs, scientists sometimes find these “trash pits,” which are commonly referred to as “ash pits” in academic circles. But, as any seasoned archaeologist will tell you, “If you don’t know what a pit is for, just call it an ash pit!”

Some pits were man-made, while others formed naturally, with trash being tossed in. These pits were sometimes used for burial rituals, where valuable items were also placed to accompany the deceased.

Ancient people also figured out that things like discarded textiles and wood could be burned, causing no lasting environmental harm. They had it all figured out: Burn it, and it was gone. No toxic plastics, no landfills—just good old-fashioned combustion.

The Pig and the Waste Management Connection

Fast forward to modern times, and we have “Peppa Pig” as the go-to guide for teaching kids about waste sorting. But did you know pigs were already playing an important role in waste management in ancient China?

Back in the day, farmers built pigpens to collect livestock waste, which would later be used to fertilize the land. One particularly resourceful politician from the Shang Dynasty, named Yi Yin, taught the people how to use animal waste as fertilizer to enrich the soil. He even made it part of government policy!

In fact, there’s an old saying in Chinese: “Manure is treasure.” And, surprisingly, this wasn’t just limited to fertilizing fields. There was a whole market for it!

成都出土的猪圈模型

From Manure to Money

In the West, people often say “money is like dirt,” but in ancient China, dirt—particularly manure—was actually a way to make a fortune.

During the Tang Dynasty, an official named Pei Shu proposed that the palace’s horse manure could be sold to boost the royal treasury. A quick calculation showed that the palace could rake in over two million coins just by selling manure! Unfortunately, the idea was rejected due to its perceived low status, but it was a clever business move nonetheless.

And if you think manure as a commodity is strange, consider the story of a woman named Bao from the Qing Dynasty. She persuaded her husband to start a manure business, collecting and selling waste to the rural areas, and making quite a tidy profit. Who knew that waste could be so valuable?

Throwing Trash Away: A Matter of Law

Ancient Chinese civilizations took waste disposal seriously—so seriously, in fact, that penalties for improper waste disposal were often quite severe. In the Shang Dynasty, it was law that anyone caught dumping trash in public places would have their hand chopped off!

The philosopher Han Fei Zi records this punishment in his writings, describing how dumping trash (or “ash”) in the streets was considered such a heinous act that it warranted such a severe penalty. However, as one of his disciples pointed out, the law worked precisely because it was so severe—it wasn’t just about the trash; it was about avoiding public disgrace.

Early Urban Sanitation

The concept of a “street cleaner” was not a modern invention, either. Ancient Chinese cities had designated officials, called “Tiao Lang Shi,” responsible for keeping streets clean. These public servants wielded whips to keep people from leaving trash on the roads, ensuring that cities remained orderly.

By the time of the Tang Dynasty, there was even a profession known as the “feces digger,” who was tasked with cleaning up human waste in public spaces. The streets of cities like Lin’an (modern-day Hangzhou) were kept relatively clean, and the government even employed people to deal with waste in a systematic manner.

From Trash to Treasure: Modern-Day Recycling

In today’s world, the idea of recycling is pretty standard, but back then, it was already a lucrative business. Take the example of Pei Mingli, a man from the Tang Dynasty who turned trash into treasure. He would collect discarded items, clean them up, and resell them for profit. Eventually, he expanded his business by purchasing land, cultivating crops, and even raising sheep to improve the soil.

His success made him a wealthy man, and by the reign of Emperor Taizong, he had risen to the position of an imperial official. All from knowing how to turn trash into a business opportunity.

In conclusion, ancient Chinese people were far more ahead of their time in terms of waste management than we often give them credit for. From composting to turning manure into gold, they had sustainable practices that can still inspire us today. So the next time someone asks, “What kind of trash are you?” maybe we should reflect on how much we’ve learned from the past.