你是什么垃圾

What does 你是什么垃圾 mean?

你是什么垃圾 started as an ordinary sorting question, directed at the bag in your hand: wet, dry, recyclable or hazardous? It slid into comedy because asking a person the same thing sounds like an insult, and because seasoned volunteers at the bins would indeed fire it at passers-by. For months the phrase worked as a greeting, a comeback and a self-deprecating line.

Where does 你是什么垃圾 come from?

On 1 July 2019, Shanghai became the first city in China to make household garbage sorting mandatory under the 《上海市生活垃圾管理条例》, and residents had to learn to sort 湿垃圾 (kitchen waste) from 干垃圾. Confused memes flooded the internet, and the question volunteers asked at every bin became the symbol of that summer.

How to use 你是什么垃圾

• 下楼扔垃圾被阿姨拦住问：你是什么垃圾？我愣在原地。
  Xià lóu rēng lājī bèi āyí lánzhù wèn: nǐ shì shénme lājī? Wǒ lèng zài yuándì.
  I went down to take out the trash and an auntie stopped me: what kind of trash are you? I froze on the spot.
• 那年夏天的段子：干垃圾湿垃圾都不重要，先搞清楚自己是什么垃圾。
  Nà nián xiàtiān de duànzi: gān lājī shī lājī dōu bù zhòngyào, xiān gǎonòng qīngchu zìjǐ shì shénme lājī.
  That summer's joke: dry or wet doesn't matter; first figure out what kind of trash you are.