A garbage sorting school developed by the Ningbo Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau and Open University of Ningbo was inaugurated on Sept 29

The school will serve as an online and offline platform integrating garbage sorting education and training, publicity planning, and theoretical research.

On the same day, the garbage sorting school opened branches in the city's 10 districts and counties and set up 11 on-site garbage sorting education bases across the city.

The move comes after Ningbo announced that it would follow in the footsteps of cities like Shanghai by making garbage sorting mandatory.

The city's municipal regulations on domestic waste management will take effect on Oct 1.

The city's garbage classification standards require residents to separate kitchen waste, recyclable waste, hazardous waste and other waste.

The regulations stipulate that individuals who do not properly separate their garbage may face a fine of between 20 and 500 yuan ($149.25).

Official data show that there is an average of 11,041 tons of household garbage produced per day in Ningbo.

Currently, there are 12 domestic waste disposal facilities in Ningbo, including five incineration plants, three landfill sites and three restaurant-kitchen waste disposal plants.

The Zhejiang provincial government recently released a household garbage sorting guideline for urban areas which is due to be implemented on Nov 1.

In 2017, China's State Council said that the country should be recycling 35 percent of household garbage by 2020, and selected 46 Chinese cities, including Ningbo, to take the lead in implementing the new system