Government and Policy

Ministry seeks opinion on garbage disposal

By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-19 10:35

BEIJING - The Ministry of Environmental Protection on Friday began to solicit public opinion on an overall plan to dispose heaping garbage generated from Chinese households in response to growing concerns over incinerators.

Workers on Wednesday clean up rubbish left behind by tourists at Stalin Park in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. [China Daily]

A sound treatment system for household garbage and a monitoring mechanism for checking pollution are expected to be established by the end of 2015, according to the plan, which was published on the ministry's website on Friday.

"About 80 percent of the household garbage nationwide should receive non-hazardous treatment, and the rate should reach 95 percent for 36 major cities by 2015," the document read.

China witnessed repeated public protests during the past year over constructions or expansions of incinerators in Beijing and well-off coastal provinces such as Jiangsu and Guangdong over fears that pollutants from such projects may damage the environment and people's health.

The "garbage crisis", as it is widely termed, has hit many cities of China, which has already surpassed the United States to become the world's largest producer of household waste.

In response to public concerns, the plan lists "hygienic landfill, clean incineration and bio-degradation" as major solutions for garbage treatment.

The plan recommends landfills for cities with abundant land resources and a low-level of pollution, and incinerators for areas where household garbage has a higher level of heating value.

Bio-degradation, a process of breaking down organic contaminants by microbial organisms, can apply to cities with a sound garbage separation system, according to the plan.

"No single solution is perfect for the treatment of household garbage, unless the whole society takes actions to reduce the amount of rubbish produced and makes separations," said Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Ma said it is a positive step for the country's environmental watchdog to integrate public participation into the legislation process.

"In the past, the environmental ministry only sought public opinion for approval of new industrial projects. But this time, (they are doing so) before a regulation is finalized," said Ma, who has been pushing for disclosure of environmental information across the country.

The government needs to continue with the transparency, especially when new garbage treatment facilities are built in the future. "The public needs to have access to information on pollution when these projects go into operation," said Ma.

Zhang Lijun, vice-minister of environmental protection, said at a press conference earlier this month that public opinion can help the ministry "make more accurate decisions" in designing new policy tools.

Zhang admitted that the protests on incineration projects were partly due to "insufficient public participation" and "poor transparency" on environmental impact reviews.