Not sorting your garbage properly could now hurt your credit rating in Zhejiang

Introducing China’s latest effort to link social misdeeds with financial consequences

In the province of Zhejiang, your credit score could soon end up in the trash if you fail to sort your garbage properly.

According to a new regulation that was passed last week, organizations, enterprises, and individuals who do not fulfill their obligation to sort household trash will be punished by having the infraction recorded in their personal credit histories. Such penalties could then make it harder to secure a bank loan, reports China’s official Xinhua news agency.

The eastern province of Zhejiang has a population of around 55 million, more than that of countries like South Africa, South Korea, and Spain, and is heavily urbanized, meaning that it faces serious challenges when it comes to properly disposing of trash.

This is just the latest part of China’s master plan to develop a so-called “social credit score” for all of its citizens by 2020. Back in 2014, the State Council announced the effort to create a rating system for individuals, businesses, and officials across the country, which would record various misdeeds and prescribe punishments as a way of keeping people’s behavior in check.

As part of this effort, more and more rules are coming into effect. Recently, Washington Post China correspondent Emily Rauhala tweeted about hearing an automated announcement on a Beijing-Tianjin train which warned commuters that breaking railway rules would hurt their personal credit scores.

China Law Translates clarifies that this railway “credit system,” which was introduced last year, records various types of bad behavior, including endangering public safety, smoking on a train, making fake train tickets, using false identification documents, and traveling without a ticket. These violations can then be shared with credit agencies.