City to tally district 'cleanliness scores'

City to tally district 'cleanliness scores'

• Source: Global Times
• [09:11 March 22 2011]
• Comments

Workers clean up garbage on Litang Lu in Changping district Sunday. Photo: Guo Yingguang

By Li Shuang

A set of standards outlining sanitation requirements will go into effect starting April 1 in a bid to quantify accountability regarding cleanliness in the capital.

The new sanitation standards will include a 100-point scoring system and rules so detailed that even the number of cigarette butts allowed per kilometer of road is stipulated, according to a city administration announcement released Monday.

The city will not only score the cleanliness of every district, but also the management of nine railways, 20 rivers, 18 highways, seven light railways and many construction sites, said Wang Qingwen, spokesman of the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration.

No more than nine cigarette butts, spit, bits of paper, water bottles, dog feces or other litter are allowed per kilometer of city road, highway and railway.

Also, no more than 50 pieces of such litter are allowed on any square kilometer of land in the city, otherwise points will be deducted for the district or specific railway or highway management office.

The district or office will receive a big fat zero if more than 13 pieces of litter are found along 1 kilometer of road or within 1 square kilometer. The scores are to be published every single day on the official website of the commission and will be archived online for up to five years.

The goal of this initiative, Wang explained, is to have quantified standards so each district or office is held responsible. "We want 'clean,' but how clean is 'clean?'" Wang said to the Global Times, "you need quantified standards. "

The commission will send supervisors with cameras and camcorders to spot-check and count the number of cigarette butts along roads, Wang said.

The Office of Environmental Sanitation under the commission was in charge of devising the sophisticated scoring system.