To promote recycling and reduce waste, the government of Shanghai is encouraging local residents to separate their garbage under a program called Green Account, which currently covers some 200,000 households. To participate, residents are asked to separate their wet and dry garbage, and in exchange for their efforts they can build "green credits" which can be redeemed for small rewards like transportation card holders, restaurant vouchers and refrigerator magnets.

Green Account was first started by city officials back in 2009, when an early incarnation of the program called upon residents to separate their electronic and paper waste products. But with the program's expansion in June to cover wet and dry refuse, scores of volunteers have been mobilized to monitor trash cans in participating neighborhoods. These volunteers will spend up to four hours each day in the morning and afternoon handing out credits to Green Account participants who properly sort their garbage.

While certainly well-intentioned, this program looks set up to have a limited impact on the waste disposal habits of local people. According to government press releases, some 2.45 million households in Shanghai have already been encouraged to sort their trash. In reality though, only about 20 percent of these households reportedly comply with the government's trash separating requests.

First of all, the use of volunteers to supervise this program looks like a highly inefficient method to promote garbage sorting, and I wonder how the government is able to ensure that these volunteer positions are properly filled.

The incentives, too, don't seem attractive enough to dislodge ingrained habits or instill the value of garbage separating. Local media reports say that authorities in Jing'an district have set aside some 2,000 gifts for people who separate their trash, far fewer than the 5,000 or so families in the district that are covered by the program. After all, sifting through household trash is not a fun activity, and those who don't see the environmental value in doing so won't have their minds changed by small knickknacks.

Poor publicity is another reason why the program is unlikely to succeed. Since its initial launch five years ago, the number of participating neighborhoods has expanded quite slowly and few not directly covered by the program seem to know anything about it.

The more fundamental problem though is that city residents lack basic knowledge and awareness when it comes to the necessity of garbage sorting. Although local streets are lined with garbage cans for recyclable and non-recyclable waste, we all know that when garbage trucks come and empty these containers, everything is dumped together into the back. Seeing such discrepancies between official calls for more recycling and the way trash is actually handled in real life, many people consider it pointless to separate their garbage.

Still, the government has been at work on laws aimed at prompting more people to separate their waste. In May, for instance, a measure was imposed what would allow officials to fine businesses and individuals who did not properly categorize their waste before dumping it into garbage cans.

According to the regulation, garbage should be divided into four general categories: recyclable, hazardous, wet and dry. For individuals the fine is between 50 yuan ($8.14) and 200 yuan, and for companies, it ranges from 200 yuan to 1,000 yuan.

This regulation, however, is rarely enforced. So far, I haven't heard of anyone getting fined for not sorting their garbage, even though the practice is almost universal.