Residents in China's southern city of Guangzhou will have to think twice before throwing garbage as they may be fined up to 50 yuan (about 7.8 U.S.dollars) for putting it in the wrong bin.

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, will implement a garbage classification decree, the first of its kind in China, on April 1, Lin Qi, deputy director of the city government's legal office, said Friday.

The regulation requires residents and organizations to put garbage into four separate bins, identified as recycle waste, kitchen waste, hazardous waste and other waste, said Lin.

Residents who fail to correctly dispose of their waste will face a fine of up to 50 yuan and the amount for organizations violating the rules will be 500 yuan for each cubic meter of waste, he said.

City management officers, neighborhood committee personnel, community property management staff as well as volunteers will be trained to promote waste sorting among the public, he added.

Guangzhou's city management department will be in charge of enforcing the rules, said Lin, without elaborating how the regulation will be enforced.

"The purpose is to help citizens develop a habit of sorting garbage, rather than the fine itself," said Zhang Jianguo, deputy head of the city management committee.

By adopting the new regulations, the city aims to set up a sound garbage classification and disposal system by 2012, Lin Qi said.

Garbage classification had been carried out in pilot neighborhoods in Guangzhou since January 2010. At one pilot neighborhood, Hailongwan community resident Yao Jieying said, "It is very difficult to catch violators red-handed," which makes it difficult to issue fines.

As to whether the fine really disciplines people, "Basuofengyun", a Guangzhou activist, suggested that the punishment could come in various forms such as community work or promotional activities of garbage sorting.

The pilot communities were supposed to have four garbage bins in four colors, but in some communities the bins have yet to be provided.

Official statistics show that the daily amount of garbage was 15,000 tonnes in Guangzhou last year and one-fourth of the waste had been recycled.

Garbage classification is nothing new to many citizens in China's big cities. However, in practice it remains largely an empty promise since many people have no idea how the garbage should be sorted.

To inform residents, the Guangzhou City Management Committee will distribute classification standards brochures to every household before April 1, said Zhang Jianguo, deputy chief of the committee.

Apart from the punishment, awards should also be given to those who do well in garbage sorting to cultivate good behavior, said "Basuofengyun".

"Through whatever means, garbage classification is an important step towards garbage reduction and recycling," said Zhao Zhangyuan from the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

"It takes time for the public to form the habit of sorting garbage. We should not withhold this campaign just because its results will not be seen shortly," said Guo Weiqing, a professor at Sun Yat-Sen University.