A flea market for bartering second-hand goods was held Saturday and yesterday in Futian’s Xiangmi Park, ahead of the city’s waste reduction day that falls today, to encourage a low-carbon and green lifestyle.

A total of 100 stall owners from local families, charity organizations and enterprises brought various goods they don’t use to the event’s main venue, near the waste-sorting education museum in Xiangmi Park.

Residents can also earn flower badges with the Chinese character “减” (which means reduction) to win gifts and food coupons by completing small tasks on site.

The two-day event in Xiangmi Park attracted nearly 1,500 citizens, with over 5,000 items exchanged.

The event was also held simultaneously at subvenues located in districts across the city, attracting over 30,000 citizens in total, with more than 28,000 products bartered or shared, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Urban Administration and Law Enforcement Bureau, the event’s organizer.

Yang Lei, deputy director of the bureau, said at the event Saturday that waste reduction is an essential part in garbage classification because it can alleviate garbage treatment facilities’ pressure on one hand and promote a greener lifestyle on the other.

“We can easily help reduce waste and garbage at source in daily life by changing some of our habits a little bit. The idea of bartering is to make full use of products we don’t use anymore to promote recycling,” said Yang, adding that events like this will continue yearly on waste reduction day to help spread the concept of waste reduction and encourage citizens to participate in the campaign.

At the same time, an item bartering session has been added to the WeChat miniprogram called “深分类” (shenfenlei) to further promote recycling among citizens.

Today marks the city’s second waste reduction day. The city’s garbage classification regulation that was officially implemented Sept. 1, 2020 set up Nov. 8 as the city’s waste reduction day.