(Yicai Global) Sept. 5 -- Six cities across China, including Hangzhou, Fujian province's Fuzhou, Zhejiang's Wenzhou, Anhui's Wuhu, Shaanxi's Xi'an and Jiangsu's Wuxi, have followed in Shanghai's footsteps by adopting more strict waste management policies.

The six cities will step up recycling education, while those individuals and institutions that break the new rules may make a dent in their social credit scores and receive fines, the China News Service reported today.

In July, Shanghai became the first Chinese city to start separating kitchen waste from recyclables and hazardous waste. The eastern megalopolis set the highest fines for businesses at CNY50,000 (USD7,009). Those for individuals go from CNY50 to CNY200 (USD7 up). Waste management companies that fail to comply with the new rules need to pay up to CNY500,000.

Kitchen waste accounts for more than one-half of the total garbage coming from Chinese households, so if all of China adopted the new recycling policy, the waste management market would expand by CNY380 billion (USD53.3 billion), according to an estimate from Soochow Securities.

Over the next three years, Shenzhen will spend CNY93.8 million (USD13.1 million) annually to step up waste management, the news report added.

Zhejiang's Hangzhou has increased its annual waste sorting subsidy per household sixfold from the previous year to CNY180 (USD25.20). The subsidy will be between CNY20 and CNY25 each month in Henan's Zhengzhou, which will begin its push for a cleaner urban environment at the end of this year.

Southeastern Fuzhou may fine those businesses that fail to sort their trash in a range between CNY10,000 and CNY50,000. Individual polluters should pay from CNY50 to CNY200. The fines for people in Xi'an start from CNY100 and go up to CNY200, accompanied by a remark in the social credit system. Enterprises in the Central Chinese city would need to pay between CNY5,000 and CNY20,000.

Editor: Emmi Laine