HANGZHOU, May 23 -- China's urban residential communities have strengthened efforts in garbage sorting as it is becoming a new fashion for leading a green and low-carbon life in the country.

Among the country's urban residential communities at and above the prefecture level, 92.6 percent have implemented garbage sorting, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Some 46 key cities have taken the lead in establishing relatively complete systems for garbage classification, collection, transportation and treatment, the ministry said at a national work conference on garbage sorting.

At present, 21 provincial-level regions and 173 cities in China have introduced local rules and regulations on garbage sorting, said Ni Hong, minister of housing and urban-rural development.

In the next stage, more efforts should be made to explore simple and easy classification patterns for different regions and continuously expand the coverage of the garbage sorting mechanism, Ni added.

The work conference has also stressed improving the treatment of construction wastes, urging efforts to resolutely curb illegal dumping and set up disposal points for residential decoration wastes.