Residents who do not practice compulsory garbage sorting will face fines ranging from 50 yuan (US$7.34) to 200 yuan starting Oct. 1, following the end of the grace period of the city’s regulation on compulsory garbage classification that started Sept. 1.
The units that collect and transport classified domestic waste will be fined up to 500,000 yuan for any violations.
So far, 3,500 housing estates and 1,600 urban villages have implemented the compulsory garbage classification.
According to the urban administration, those who accept the punishments or voluntarily attend trainings organized by authorities will be exempted from administrative punishments.
Also starting from Oct. 1, a new regulation on public health emergencies took effect, and aims to enhance the city’s public health response system.
In case of a public emergency, disease control and prevention centers, health departments and market supervision departments shall take necessary measures in accordance with the rules after receiving the report, according to the regulation.
The governments, after receiving the public health emergency report, shall decide whether to initiate a public health emergency response within 24 hours.
The city government shall organize and set up an expert committee for public health emergencies and the opinions of the committee should be taken as important references for decision making.
Individuals and organizations are encouraged to report hidden dangers related to public health emergencies and behaviors of delayed reporting, false reporting, concealing and giving false information related to public health emergencies.
The regulation made it clear that it is not allowed to divulge information that can identify or infer identity and punitive measures will be imposed on rumormongers and those who fail to cooperate with the investigation in the case of a public health emergency.
Under the regulation on elevator use that took effect Oct. 1, rescuers must arrive at the scene within 30 minutes after receiving an emergency report. The elevator management firms are required to make contact with maintenance companies within three minutes after they receive emergency calls or find people trapped inside an elevator.
Preschool children under the age of 6 and other physically challenged persons should be accompanied by an adult when using elevators in Shenzhen.