This might be the “golden age” of waste incinerating in China.
At last week’s forum on the future of Chinese waste-based energy production in Shanghai, Mr. Zhang Yi, principal of Shanghai’s Environmental Sanitation Engineering Design Institute, indicated that there will be 300 waste incinerating plants by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan. The plants will have a daily waste handling capacity of up to 300,000 tons, 30 per cent of overall national waste treatment.
At present, 45 to 50 per cent of urban waste is put into landfills, while about 12 per cent is burned in the 150 incinerating plants currently existing. Less than 10 per cent is treated through composting and about 30 per cent of waste is not treated at all.
Mr. Zhang added that even though land-filling is currently the most common method of waste treatment, it still in a rather elementary stage and bears significant risk of pollution. In his view, waste incinerating is a smarter choice for densely populated areas.
He also revealed that Shanghai is currently building 11 new incinerating plants.
According to Mr. Zhang, from 2007 to January of 2011 there were ten mass incidents related to the site selection of incinerating plants. Of these, three occurred in Beijing, three in Jiangsu, three in Guangdong and one in Shanghai. He commented “all of these are economically developed areas where residents have strong environmental awareness and where real estate prices are very high.”
With regard to already existing and future plants, Mr. Zhang thinks it will be necessary to more strictly monitor and control pollution as well as to carry forward some new policies that benefit the local residents. This could include financial compensation, employment support, subsidies for heating/energy and additional support for the surrounding industry.
