No Time to Waste

　　China moves to find effective solutions to a mounting garbage problem

　　China has a big garbage problem. In fact， if all the garbage annually produced by the world’s most populated country were to be stacked up， it would reach as high as a 500-story building. And far from being static， the problem is growing at an annual rate of 8-10 percent， even exceedingChina’s current GDP growth， according toPeople’s Daily.

　　For the past decade，China has been promoting urbanization on an unprecedented scale， and the new urban lifestyle is in turn producing waste faster than before. According to a World Bank report，Chinahas now overtaken theUnited Statesas the world’s No.1 garbage producer.

　　Waste siege

　　The rapid growth in garbage of many cities has outstripped their disposal capacity， dragging one third of them into “a siege of waste” dilemma. To meet the growing garbage disposal demand， the Central Government plans to invest 263 billion yuan ($42.5 billion) during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) to build refuse treatment plants around the country. This will hopefully raise the pollution-free refuse disposal rate to 95 percent in 2015.

　　“Incineration should be given priority in treating garbage of those cities with more developed economies， limited land resources and dense population，” said Zhang Yi， head of the Shanghai Environmental Sanitation Engineering Design Institute. “It is internationally considered as reliable technology in disposing of garbage.”

　　Incineration facilities occupy only 5 percent of space compared to landfills， a method that was still used inChinaup to 2012 to dispose of 70 percent of its garbage. Incineration takes only two hours to dispose of garbage that would usually take decades to decompose underground. Most importantly， it generates only 2 percent of the pollution produced by landfills.

　　Incinerator objections

　　According toZhang，Chinawill have more than 300 garbage incinerators with daily disposal capacity of 300，000 tons by the end of 2015.

　　Sounds good， but that’s only half the story. In reality， public opinion against incinerator construction has made the big plan run into the sand. Construction decision-environmental protest-plan suspended， this routine had been seen repeating in tens of projects inBeijing，Guangzhou， Shenzhen and some other cities in recent years. On May 12， protest of thousands of citizens again deterred the construction of a garbage incinerator inHangzhou， capital of Zhejiang Province.

　　Most of the objectors believed that incineration is the synonym of evil， which will generate hazardous gas and negatively impact their living conditions and health， while decreasing the value of their properties.

　　The government has been working hard to alter the negative perception surrounding incineration. On May 16，Chinareleased a new national environmental safety standard， which reduces the dioxin emission level to one-10th of the previous level， making it on par with the European Union (EU) standards launched in 2000.

　　Gaining public trust

　　While advanced technology and upgraded standards are important， public trust is also essential. Before escalation of theHangzhouprotest， the local government tried to ease the public concerns through holding a press conference， where experts were invited to make explanations. According to them， the new incinerator inHangzhouwill pose no harm to local environment as it adopts the most advanced technology and strictly follows the EU standards.

　　But the explanation could hardly ease the fears of worried residents， as they preferred to believe in what they have seen in environmental incidents in the past.

　　In 2013， more than 7，000 pollution-related incidents took place around the country， an increase of 31 percent over the previous year. A report from Friends of Nature， a non-governmental organization dedicated to environmental protection， said that some environment projects， though triggered protests， are not as dangerous as perceived by the public.

　　How to ease the public doubt and win back public trust will be the big challenge in the future. Liu Yangsheng， environmental science professor at Peking University， suggested that more efforts be done to increase the transparency of government policies and business decisions and have the public get more involved in the planning stage of any project that has a bearing on their daily life.

　　It is also important to enforce supervision to ensure that safety standards are actually met during the construction. Meanwhile， more severe punishment should be rendered， as the cost currently paid by polluters is too low to deter others from polluting. In late 2013， for instance， a mining company was fined 30 million yuan ($4.8 million)， a record fine at the time for polluting， but a figure accounting for only 0.3 percent of its net profit.

　　Meeting safety standards

　　Establishing a system for separate collection of domestic refuse can also help， said Ma Jun from Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs inBeijing. By garbage sorting， material that generates toxic gases will not be sent into the incinerator， thus reducing the risk of pollution， he said.

　　This method is widely utilized in many developed countries. For example，Japanonce effectively reduced the amount of refuse that went to the incinerators by half in two decades by promoting such a system.

　　Separate collection is not a new concept toChina， too. In 2000， eight Chinese cities includingBeijing，Shanghai，Guangzhouand Shenzhen were selected for a pilot project to promote the practice. It was not successful due to enduring social habits and increasing costs of local governments.

　　Zhang Yi suggested that a separate collection system is a long-term process and should rely on every citizen. The habit of sorting garbage in families is more effective than any government efforts， he noted.

　　In a program launched in June，Guangzhouinvited more than 10，000 citizens to visit local refuse treatment sites. This is aimed at developing the city as a good example in promoting separate garbage collection， and avoiding incidents like the large anti-incinerator protest inHangzhou.

　　By Zheng Yang

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