Abstract: Demonstrations of three different systems for sorting and recovery of typical packaging waste from plastic, paper and metal in three residential communities were established. The demonstrated systems were natural state, public education about sorting and professional sorting based on public education. With questionnaires, site sampling and in-home interviews, waste flow data including generation amount, reclaimed amount and recovery rate of each kind of packaging waste in the different modes were statistically analyzed based on substance flow analytic tracking observation. The material flow was also analyzed from production to recycling and reuse of packaging waste. The results showed that the current recovery system of packaging waste (natural state) had some effect on sorting collection. Different packaging waste had different key characteristics, such as paper and metal packaging waste with high recovery rates in families, and the recovery of plastic packaging waste mainly from social workers. With education, packaging waste which was of low-value and difficult to sort could be effectively recovered.