Every time I take out the trash, I am made more aware of the city's growing rubbish crisis.

The two rubbish bins - one marked with the Chinese characters "recyclable" and the other "non-recyclable" - are usually brimming with all sorts of rubbish. It appears that not everybody knows the difference between the two containers.

I wonder if hazardous waste items like batteries, paint and herbicides are also disposed in the bins. There are no household hazardous waste collection facilities in Chinese communities.

There has been much talk about the worsening trash crisis in Beijing. According to media reports, Beijing generates as much as 18,000 tons of trash every day, with 90 percent of trash going to the city's 13 landfill plants which have a capacity of 11,000 tons. Even worse, it's reported that two plants have already met their maximum capacity and will soon stop operation.

The outlook is not rosy at all as the amount of the city's waste grows by 8 percent every year. The total output is forecast to reach 12 million tons by 2015.

The public has long been encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle trash to help ease the burden on the environment. Separating recyclable waste from non-recyclable garbage is the first decisive step to achieve this goal.

However, on the streets and in residential areas, non-recyclable rubbish bins can be found filled with paper, plastic bottles and cigarette butts, while food leftovers are dumped into the recyclable bins .

I don't think people are unwilling to separate their garbage to help the environment. It's just that some people are not aware about which trash can be recycled and which cannot. The solution is an easy, simple and cheap one: Put signs near the bins which help people decide in which bin to place their trash. Additional bins for specific waste, like paper, would also be useful.

I believe that everybody, not just our rural friends, needs to be better educated about recycling. Do you know if a broken mug or facial tissues are recyclable?