U-SHIN Manufacturing (Zhongshan) Co Ltd sold its leftover materials for double the price at an online auction site. [Photo by Ling Shijie]

Trash-sorting is trending now. In Zhongshan, trash-sorting is pilot in the processing trad area. It helps businesses earn more and spend less through online auctions for recyclable materials.

Early in July, the U-SHIN Manufacturing (Zhongshan) Co Ltd authorized an auction to sell its overstock of recyclables through the "Inner-trading Network System Leftover Material from Processing Trade". U-SHIN was able to pocket some 4.5 million yuan. This was also the largest deal since the system was launched on Taobao.

Liu Gang, Director of U-SHIN's Logistics Department, said that a large amount of waste materials are created in production. Previously, they had to use a lot of time and energy in dealing with waste materials by themselves. Typically, recyclables can't be sold for a good price.

Now companies can reach clients nationwide through online auctions and transparent bidding.

Statistics dated July 31 from Zhongshan Customs showed that over 450 firms from the Gongbei Customs District were registered on the customs platform during the first half of 2019. This resulted in 1,062 transactions, with a value of 58.28 million yuan, being finalized on Taobao. These transactions contributed 79% to the total sales in Guangdong Province. Through online auctions, the average price of recyclable materials reached 3.52 yuan/kg. This was a 40.54% increase over last year's figure.