A new rubbish sorting system (垃圾分类系统) has been put into use in Fangchengyuan Community in Beijing. Local people not only sort their rubbish, but also put QR codes (二维码) on it.

“When the rubbish is collected and the codes are seen, I will get reward points to exchange for small gifts and even some money,” one of the local people told reporter. “It’s really creative and encouraging.”

China produces quite a lot of rubbish every year. Much of the rubbish is buried (填埋) in soil or burned without being sorted. Landfills (填埋场) take up a lot of land and have a risk of polluting the soil and water nearby. And burning rubbish can produce harmful gases. Through rubbish sorting, we can reduce the use of landfills and air pollution.

What’s more, rubbish sorting saves resources, which could bring economic benefits (经济利益). For example, a ton of waste paper can be reused to make about 850 kg of paper, saving 17 trees and 50 percent of water. Because of their benefits, some countries have developed successfully sorting systems.

Japan has a strict and detailed system. When people throw away a water bottle, the cap, the wrapper (包装纸) and the bottle itself have to go into three different bins.

In Australia, every family is provided with three rubbish bins—the red lid (盖子) bin for “general waste” like food and plastic bags, the yellow lid bin for “recycling” like steel and glass, and the green lid bin for “green waste” such as grass and leaves. On the streets, the bins are printed with pictures of the things that are allowed inside. It makes recycling quite easy.

A sunflower is a sunflower. A mobile phone is a mobile phone. But can you combine(联合) the two to do something for your local environment? It may be possible. When you have finished with your mobile phone, you will be able to bury(埋) it in the garden or a plant pot and wait for it to flower.

A biodegradable(生物可降解的) mobile phone was introduced by scientists. It is hoped that the new type of phone will encourage people to recycle. Scientists have thought of a new material over the last five years. It looks like any other plastic, but overtime it can break down into the soil without giving out any poisonous chemicals(有毒的化学物质). British researchers used the new material to develop a phone cover with a sunflower seed(种子). When this cover changes into waste, it forms nitrates(硝酸盐). These feed the seed and help the flower grow. “We have only put sunflower seeds into the cover so far. But we're trying to find out which flowers would perform best. Maybe we could put roses in next time,” said one scientist.

As phone technology is developing so quickly, people are always throwing their mobile phones away. This means producers are under pressure(压力) to find ways of recycling them. Some 650 million mobile phones have been sold this year. Most of them will be thrown away within two years, adding plastic, heavy metal(金属) and chemical waste to the environment. A biodegradable cover can reduce the harm to nature, according to the scientists. “The seed is released(释放) and the flower grows in the pot, so you don't have to worry about the phone when you have finished using it,” said Kerry Kirwan, the leader of the research team, which is based at the University of Warwick in Britain.

Hasna Kourda grew up on an island in Tunisia where her grandmother taught her the strong values of looking after old things. Clothes were reused and repurposed continuously, Kourda says. A large bag made from old clothes by her grandmother is still used by her parents today. Kourda has brought these values into a project that she hopes could change the relationship people have with their clothes—and benefit the environment in the process.

The clothing industry—from material sourcing（来源）to washing and waste is considered to be responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions（碳排放）, according to the UN. As the world races to meet its promises to limit carbon emissions to net zero by the middle of the century, the clothing industry has a huge job ahead of it to play its part.

Kourda is among those who hope to help do that. Her way is to encourage people to go looking for new ways of using the clothing they already have rather than buying something new. Her company, Save Your Wardrobe, uses technology to help people go shopping in their own wardrobes. The company uses computer software to build a digital image of a user’s wardrobe people can either take pictures of clothes or allow.

Save Your Wardrobe to check their online shopping history. It then wardrobe advises how to create new clothes as well as connecting users to repair and alteration（更改）services, and environmentally friendly dry cleaning.

In October the company began to work with the German company Zalando, which will use Save Your Wardrobe technology to offer customers aftercare for their clothes.

“The job,” says Kourda, “is to use technology to guide users to reconnect with the clothes of their wardrobe and make the most out of it, finally encouraging them to buy less and better”.

Save Your Wardrobe is just one of a huge number of companies using new technology and different business models to try to overhaul（全面改革）the industry. From encouraging new ways of consuming clothes, to making it possible for clothes to be recycled at the end of their life, the clothing world could look very different by the time we reach 2045.