To cope with the large amount of festive waste, the Guangzhou administrative committee of urban management issued a notice early this week that encouraged locals to classify festive waste before dumping it in local collection centers to reduce unnecessary waste.

Pots and earth will be transferred to local gardens, wetlands and nurseries and recycled, while flowers, tree branches and related waste will go to landfills and incineration plants.

And the city's urban management authority has announced 398 special centers citywide for the centralized collection of tossed potted plants, flowers and related festive waste.

Meanwhile, locals can also phone the urban management authority in advance for help, the notice said.

Residents of Guangzhou, which has been dubbed "the city of flowers", have a long history of buying flowers to decorate their homes during Spring Festival.

"In addition to potted oranges, I annually buy a bunch of lilies as my room's decoration for Spring Festival, while my son prefers peach blossoms," said Wang Xiaorong, a retiree in Yuexiu district.

"The flowers always seem to bring harmony and good luck to our lives for the entire year," she said.

According to a traditional Chinese saying, potted oranges mean good luck; lilies signify a couple will live together for 100 years; orchids mean elegance; and peach blossoms are lucky for those wooing the opposite sex

The traditional flower street fairs that take place annually in the three days before Spring Festival always attract thousands of locals and tourists who want to buy flowers.

The fairs, which are believed to date back more than 200 years to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), have become a major tourism attraction during Spring Festival.