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CHINA WASTE MANAGEMENT

WORKING PAPER FOR STREAMS

TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM ME

17 May 2004

Comp iled by Juh o Rissanen & Teemu N aarajrvi, Tekes Beijing

in cooperation w ith Environmen tal Resources Managem ent (ERM), Shan ghai

Sour ces are acknowledged at the end of the pap er


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1 INTR ODU CTION

1.1 OBJECTIVES

The purp ose of this pap er is to explain the cur rent situation in relation tomu nicipal solid w aste in the Peoples Repu blic of China. While China h as

witnessed spectacular economic grow th and rapid urbanization over the last

25 years, waste managemen t practices have failed to keep pace. In recent

years however, both the central and municipal governments have began to

add ress this issue in the larger ur ban centers.

Curren tly, about 40% of urban so lid waste is not treated at all, but is instead

land filled at sub-standar d facilities on the outskirts of cities. In Beijing alone,

10,000 tons of urban so lid waste is generated every da y, and abou t 700 solid

waste dum ps surround the city. This condition is not unique, as two-thirds

of Chinese cities face similar solid wa ste treatm ent p roblems like Beijing

does.1

This pap er has been w ritten especially from the STREAMS point of view. As

such, the waste stream is ad dressed from generation to ultimate disposal.

This paper is not a market analysis, as the gathering and an alyzing of the

required information was not possible without a more extensive study plan

and bud get.

According to the World Bank, urban r esidents generate tw o to three times

more solid waste than rural citizens.2 Althou gh reliable figures are

un available, this is probably the case in China. Together with th e rapid

urb anization and the fact that man y smaller cities usually lack the resou rcesto hand le mun icipal solid waste at all, this pap er concentrates on the larger

cities, so-called grow th-centers of China. These cities have more resources and

the gravest need for improving waste management practices, as the volume of

waste generated grows every year.

1 Greensmart Corpora tion 2004

2 World Bank 1999


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1.2 CON TENT O F THE STUDYThe report is structured as follows:

Chapter 2 describes the current situation and latest developments inrelation to MSW in China;

Chapter 3 details governm ent policies concerning w aste hand ling inChina, the adm inistrative setup and other related agencies such as

private ind ustry and N GOs;

Chapter 4 provid es specific details on MSW in China, includingcollection, treatment and disposal methods;

Chapter 5 is a description of the waste situation in several ma jorChinese cities;

Chapter 6add resses future trends in MSW management in China; and Chapter 7provides some concluding remarks.

The main questions this study tries to answer are:

wh at is the current situation of the mu nicipal solid w aste in China? what kind of technologies are been used in m anaging the MSW? what kin d of op portu nities China offers for Tekes and STREAMS?

Due to rap id changes in Chinese society and the lack of accurate dat a the

information provided in study is useful as a reference only and should be

treated with caution. In particular statistics qu oted in relation to MSW in

China become outd ated very quickly due to the rap id p ace of development in

China.


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2 MU NICIPAL SOLID W ASTE IN CHINA

2.1 CHANG ES ANDDEVELOPMENTS OVER THELAST20YEARSDuring the last two decades, the econom y of China has been grow ing at an

ann ual rate of almost 10%. The total amount of wast e has been growing at a

similar pace of 8-10% annu ally. Curr ently, every Chinese person prod ucesevery year on average 440 kg of solid w aste.3

As the total p opu lation of China is appr oximately 1,25 billion, the total

amo unt o f wa ste is around 500 million tons. According to th e New

Technology Developm ent Center, the shar e of mun icipal solid was te is 120

million tons.4 The sha re of MSW ma y be even m ore, since the living stand ard

of the cities is clearly higher than in the countr yside, and h igher consum ption

increases the amount of waste generated.

Table 2.1 Urban Municipal Solid Wast e Generat ion

Year 1997 2003

GNP Per Cap ita (US$) 620 1000

Urban Populat ion (% of Total) 30.3 35

Urban MSW Generation (kg/ capita/ day) 0.79 1.15

Note: Some Chinese env ironment alists say that t he amount of waste per capita is even higher, close to

1,5 kg/capita/day. In larger cities this is quite possible.

Sour ce: Count ed from the Figures of World Bank, Asian Developm ent Bank,

China 2002 Repor t of the State of the Environm ent

Estimating waste gen eration in China faces similar pro blem as in other

developing countries: at which stage the amounts are estimated. Informal

recycling activities take place at every stage and influence remarkably th e

wa ste stream, as discussed in following chapters. Much more w aste is

actually generated than arrives at th e disp osal site. The effects of recycling

from the household w aste streams are show n in the grap h below. The share

of recyclable waste exiting the w aste stream can be as h igh as 60%. The

percentage of recyclable material from businesses is still higher an d m any

businesses do seem to p rod uce no waste at all, because the recycling busin ess

pays to take care of waste disposal.

The figures given in th is table and in following chap ters do not includ e

construction and d emolition w astes, which wou ld increase the amou nts mu ch

higher.


4 Peoples Daily 21.11.2003 (according to the 2000 data from th e Ministry of Constru ction the grow th r ate was 9% and the

total amoun t of MSW totalled 110 million tons.)


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2.2 CURRENTSITUATIO NAlthou gh China as a whole has a low per capita income, in this stu dy it is

considered as an Asian mid dle-income coun try. The reason for this is the

focus on urban a reas and mu nicipal solid w aste. In Chinese cities the main

types of waste presen ted for disposal are app roximately as follows:

Organic (45-55%) Paper (10-20%) Plastic (5-15%) Metal (2-4%) Glass (2-4%) Others (2-36%)5

The composition of MSW is influenced m ainly by city size, geographicalcircum stances and living standa rd of the residents and fuel that people use. In

recent years, the composition of MSW in China has greatly changed . In

5 World Bank 1999: 6

Bottles with deposit from homes to shop

Recyclable paper from home to WtoB

Recyclable cardboard from home to WtoB

Recyclable metals from home to WtoB

Recyclable material from waste containers

Recyclable material from collection vehicle

Recyclable material from transfer station

Recyclable material from dump

Recyclable plastics from homes to WtoB


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general there has been an increase in organic and combu stible compo und s in

MSW and a greater pr oportion of recyclable material.

The composition of MSW by the city types can be described th e following

way:

Table 2.2 Composit ion of MSW

Com posit ion of MSW (%) Compos ition of Recyclable Waste (%)City type Organic

waste

Inorganic

waste

Recyclabl

e Waste

Paper Glass Metal Plastic Fiber

Developed

cities

45-55 15-25 25-35 20-25 15-20 5-15 35-45 10~15

Well

Developed

cities

50-60 20-30 15-25 20-25 15-20 5-15 35-45 10~15

Ordinary

cities

45-55 35-45 5-15 20-25 15-20 5-15 35-45 10~15

(Source: Li et al 2002: 2)

The large variation is caused by the d ifferences between cities: the level of

indu strialization and income, consumin g habits etc. An example of this

characteristic is Hong Kong, as the city generates enormou s qua ntities of

construction and demolition waste and consequently the MSW generation

per cap ita in the city is also high.6 Many Chin ese cities with th eir

construction ind ustry booming face similar statistical prob lems.

Nevertheless it is clear that in the rising econom y of China, organic waste still

accoun ts for the biggest share, but the amou nt of paper an d p lastic waste is

also grow ing. The high prop ortion of organics in MSW is also related to

Asian eating habits com pared w ith western , i.e. mor e fresh vegetables andfruit. Another, especially Chinese issue is the widespr ead use of disposable

bags and w rappings, which is causing an increase in the amount of paper and

plastic w aste in urban China. A good examp le is Wuh an City (popu lation

app . 7 million), the capital of Hu bei prov ince. The amou nt of pap er and

plastic waste rose between 1984-94 from 5 to 75 tons and 3 to 50 tons

respectively.7

Anoth er variable is the difference between comm un ities inside the cities.

According to research by Beijing Environm ental Sanitation Adm inistration,

wealthier households produce significantly higher percentages of paper,

plastic, metal and glass wastes, usu ally from p ackaging materials.

Compostable matter is predominant in poorer single-story residential wastestreams.



Kommentt i [p1] : it is not

clear whereabouts in the WM

cycle these figure refer is it at

the poin t of generation ? At the

local collection points? At th e

transfer stations or at the

d ispo sal facilities? Recyclables

will be taken ou t at each stage

of the cycle, impa cting the

composition at that point.

Kommentti [DAA2]: thousands? We should also quote HK

Statistics


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Variations in Waste Gen eration an d Comp osition by Affluence: Beijing

(App roximate figures % of total)

Wealthier residential Single-story poorer

areas residential areas

Metal 5 -

Glass 15 2

Paper 30 4

Plastic 18 5

Organic 28 47

A sh and dirt - 40

(Source: World Bank 1999: 9)

The high ash an d d irt content is from coal, since gas is not yet available for all

the popu lation. In Beijing, coal was formerly the main sour ce for heating

energy an d cooking in th e poorer ar eas of the city. In China, there is an

un wr itten rule that those living north of the Yangtze River require heating in

the winters and those south do not. Traditionally, in the cities, heating has

been provid ed by burn ing coal, resulting in high ash content in MSW during

the wint er mon ths. However this situation is changing rapidly. Since the

late 1990s, there has been an extensive pr ogram to transp ort gas into the

larger cities from gas fields in th e west and off-shore in the east and sou th.

In add ition, LNG term inals are being bu ilt to bring in gas from Austra lia and

elsewhere. These pr ograms are ad vancing quickly and are likely to result in

a significant redu ction of ash in MSW in the larger cities in the short to

med ium term . In Beijing, for examp le, the use of coal is now not p ermitted

with in the city limits, since the connection of a mun icipal gas sup ply in the

late 1990s.

The improving stan dar d of living in China as a result of continued economic

development, coupled with an increasingly urban ized popu lation is leading

to a greater proportion of paper and metal in the waste stream. Such items

are readily recyclable and, w hile there is little in the w ay of governmen t

recycling initiatives in China, the informal recycling sector is rema rkably

efficient at removin g anything of value from the waste stream.

Consequen tly, there is little need for the m un icipalities to intervene any

publicly funded recycling programs w ould tend to comp ete with private

sector initiatives rather than add t o it. In fact, there are man y examp les of

failur es wh ere mu nicipalities have developed recycling facilities as generally

everything o f value is removed from the w aste before it reaches the facility.

2.3 ENVIRON MENTALPRO BLEMS CAUSED BYMSW

China faces all the typical health and env ironmen tal impacts caused by poor

solid waste man agemen t, including: air, soil and water pollution. According

to a 1997 survey, 93% of Chinese felt that t heir health was affected by


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environmental problems. The figure was the second highest in the world,

after India (94%).8

The vast majority of MSW generated in China is ultima tely sent to landfill

sites on the subu rban outskirts of cities. These landfills pose significant

environm ental hazard s, particularly associated w ith leachate from the site.

Very few lan dfill sites in China are equip ped w ith leachate collection and

treatment systems, which are required in the developed world. At a landfill

site 45 km nor theast of Beijing, the uncon trolled du mp ing of solid w aste

without any compaction or covering has another environmental consequence;

trees on the hills surround ing the landfill have taken on the app earance of

wh ite Christmas trees for all the p lastic that h as been blown offsite and been

caught in the tree branches.

How ever, the standard of MSW treatment and disposal in the large urban

centers of Beijing, Shanghai Chongq ing and Tianjin is improving a nd some

cities are now equ ipped w ith mod ern treatm ent facilities, such as secure

land fills and high quality incinerators. Nevertheless, the ma nagem ent

know -how at man y of these facilities is inadequ ate and h ence their

environmental performance is often sub-standa rd.

3 PO LICY ISSUES

3.1 CHINAS POLICY TOW ARDSMSWEnvironmental policy is promulgated at the State level via national laws.

Provincial and municipal governments directly under the control of the State

Council (eg Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing) are em pow ered to im plemen t laws

with in their respective jurisd ictions. For example, China's national landfill

standard Urban Municipal Solid Waste Landfilling Technical Standard (1989), waspromulgated by the State Ministry of Construction. Implementation of the

Standard is left to individual municipalities' Environmental Protection

Bureaus. To construct a new landfill, the municipal Urban Construction

Department conducts a site feasibility study, and submits the feasibility study

to the municipal Environmental Protection Bureau for approval. Construction

and operation of solid waste facilities is the responsibility of the municipal

government.

The Chinese Governm ent recognizes the grow ing MSW prob lem and is

wor king towa rds find ing a solution. The Central Governm ent has reserved

altogether USD 10 billion for MSW ma nagem ent d uring the p eriod 2001-20059

and continues to issue new laws and regulations relating to MSW



Kommentti [DAA3]: Check ifthis relates to three synchronies

approval


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man agemen t in order to prescribe the way in wh ich national policy is to be

imp lemented at the local level (e.g.Regulations for City Appearance and

Env ironmental Sanitation M anagementand theMethods for Mun icipal Solid Waste

Management). As of 2001, the Ministry of Constru ction had formu lated and

issued 20 technical standar ds and specifications in the field of environm ental

sanitation. Accord ing to China's "Tenth Five Year Plan (FPY 2001-2005), the

daily waste treatmen t capacity of cities will increase up to 150,000 tons/ day.

Solid waste man agement is generally managed an d financed at the mu nicipallevel. Mun icipal Governm ents levy fees for the disposal of was te by

residential, commercial and industrial producers as part of general taxation,

but there are moves in several cities to introd uce direct wast e fees. How ever

the fees levies are low and offset a sma ll fraction of collection, treatment a nd

disp osal costs.

There has been discussion for some time about moving towards a polluter

pays principle for wa ste generated by private business in some cities. At

the Shanghai Forum on Internat ional Solid Waste Disposal Technology and

Managem ent in May 2004, the Shan ghai Public Sanitation Bureau annou nced

that a p lan to increase the disposal fees for local business w as wa iting final

app roval. There are no plans to increase waste levies for residential was tehow ever, which has been increasing at a rate of around 3.5% in recent years.

Chinese experts are suggesting both pu blic and private sectors from ho me

and abroad becom e involved in th e treatmen t of solid wastes in the larger

cities. Accord ing to a major English-langu age newspap er, the China Daily,

the experts also suggest that larger and more competitive companies with

better technology an d facilities should be encou raged . Small compa nies

should be merged or invite overseas investment to reorganize.10 This is

indeed wh at has occurr ed over the last few years w ith several major

multinational waste service providers entering joint venture agreements with

local partners and t he involvemen t of internationa l finance institutions such

as the ADB and World Bank.

Overseas experience indicates that pu blic awareness is an imp ortant p art of

solving the solid was te problem . While pu blic awar eness camp aigns are

commo nly emp loyed for a range of issues in China, the general level of

awareness of solid waste ma nagement remains low.

3.2 ENVIRON MENTAL O RGANIZATIO NS AND RELATED BODIES3.2.1 Gov ernment A gencies

As noted abov e, waste mana gement is generally the responsibility of

Mun icipal Governm ents. The dep artm ents involved are pr incipally the

10 Chin a Daily 8.10.2001


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Environmen tal Protection Burea u (EPB) and Public Sanitation Bur eau, w hich

are respon sible for MSW collection, treatmen t and disposa l and the

Constru ction Bureau , which is respons ible for managing constru ction and

dem olition waste (of which there is a considerable amoun t in the larger

cities).

3.2.2 Non-G ov ernment al and Foreign Organiz at ionsChinas NGO-sector is not as active as in Western countr ies, how ever several

are involved w ith waste ma nagem ent issues. The one dealing most closely

with MSW is the China Association of Urban Environm ent Sanitation

(CAUES), which according to th eir website, was found ed in 1992 and h as

arou nd 200 mem bers. The Association has adop ted many of the tasks once

assigned to t he Ministry of Construction. CAUES pr imarily serves as a

consultant to central and local government agencies on mun icipal wast e

disp osal policy. It usu ally perform s the research and assessment work

required in formu lating policy. Like many other "NGOs" it also has a role in

technological exchang e and pu blic awareness rising. It organizes seminar s

and meetings in order to inject new techn ology into Chinese mu nicipal waste

management.

3.2.3 Int ernat ional Finance and Dev elopment AgenciesThe most active foreign institutions involved in MSW man agemen t in China

include the World Bank, the Asian Developm ent Bank, the USTDA an d

GTZ/ KFW. Projects initiated by these agencies typically include MSW

management as a component of larger environmental improvement p rogram.

World Bank

The World Bank finances large wast e man agemen t projects all over the w orld

concentrating on so-called future Mega cities. In China, the World Bank ispresently funding Urban Environmental Improvement Programs (or similar)

in the following Mu nicipalities and Provinces:

Shanghai; Chongqing; Beijing; Henan; and Zhejiang

These are typically high-bud get pro jects that focus on t he pr ovision of utility

infrastructure for drinking water supply and w astewater/ sewage treatment.

How ever MSW man agement is often includ ed in such projects as part of a

compr ehensive package of environm ental imp rovem ents. Where there are

environm ental concerns or complexity, the Bank often insists that aspects of

these infrastructur e projects are open to intern ational tender.


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Asian Development Bank

Similar to th e World Bank, projects implem ented b y the ADB tend to be high -

budget infrastructure projects funded through Municipal or Provincial

Governm ents. The ADB is committed to redu cing infrastructur e

bottlenecks in w ater sup ply, wastewater treatment, solid w aste, and air

pollution. While the ADB is pr esently involved in MSW man agemen t

imp rovemen t in Shanghai, the focus of the ADB in China lies elsewhere, in

particular with poverty alleviation and traffic and transport infrastructure in

the less developed areas.

United Nations Development Program (U NDP)

The UNDP has imp lemented several small scale pilot progra ms in China,

such as a Mu nicipal Solid Waste Manag ement Reform project in Centra l

China how ever the focus of the UNDP in China is sustainable energy use and

ecological protection.

United States Trade and Development Agency

USTDA is actively pursu ing the up grad ing of hazardou s waste facilities and

is fun ding feasibility studies in a num ber of centers aroun d Shanghai,including most recently, Hangzhou and Suzhou. USTDA is promotes the

services of US comp anies in the p rovision of facilities and equ ipm ent where it

is providing funds.

GTZ

GTZ is a Developm ent Agency own ed by the German gov ernm ent. The aim

of the GTZ is to enhan ce the qu ality of life in its partn er countries. In

Ha ngzhou City in eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province, GTZ is assisting with

pu blic sector policy, technology tra nsfer and institutional capacity building

with respect to hazardous waste.

3.2.4 Ma jor EnterprisesA sum mary of the m ajor private enterprises involved in w aste management

in China is provided below. It is worth noting that there does not appear to

be any major Chinese countr ywide operators. That aside, the vast majority

of waste management collection, treatment and disposal is undertaken by

small local operators, man y of wh ich a re affiliated w ith local level

Government.

ERM China

Environmental Resources Management is an international environmental

health and safety consultancy that p rovides waste m anagement solutions to

both the private and public sectors in China. ERM has been involved in

MSW improvement programs funded by international finance institutions in


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Chongqing and Shanghai and works w ith international waste service

providers operating in China.

Onyx

Onyx is an internat ional waste service provider involved in the collection,

treatm ent and d isposal of all types of wastes includ ing MSW, ind ustrial waste

and hazardo us wastes (including medical waste). Onyx operates treatment

and disp osal facilities in China including a 4-5000 tpd landfill site in

Guan gzhou, a 1000 tpd MSW incineration facility in Shangha i and a

hazar dou s waste incineration facility in Tianjin. They also opera te two land fill

gas utilization facilities in Guangzhou and Hangzhou and have recently won

a DBO contract for th e fourth extension to the Shanghai Laogang Landfill.

Swire Sita

Sw ire Sita is another intern ational wa ste service prov ider, similar to On yx.

They are currently in the process of developing a hazardous waste treatment

facility for th e Shanghai Chem ical Ind ustrial Park.

Sembcorp

Sembcorp is an indu strial waste management compan y based in Singapore.

Recently they bou ght into a joint ventu re w ith a local Shan ghai cleansing

services comp any, Sincere, to prov ide ind ustrial cleansing services in th e

Shanghai area. In Singap ore, they also operate the clinical waste treatment

centre for the government and are interested in undertaking similar

operations in China

Cleanaway

Cleanaway is an international waste management comp any operating in

Europe and Austr alia. In China they have focused on the opera tion of a

land fill gas utilization scheme in Na njing.

Impreglio

Impr eglio is an Italian constru ction company, w ith some experience in waste

man agemen t. They recently won a tender to operate a new incineration

facility in the Pud ong New Development a rea of Shanghai and also to operat e

collection round s in 11 districts around the incineration facility.


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4 THE WASTE STREAM IN CHINA

4.1 WASTEPREVENTIONThere is a clear and ur gent need to ad dress th e issue of waste disposal in

China, as evidenced by the amount of discarded litter on the ground in all but

the most remote places. Overseas experience has show n that public

awareness and education are the most effective means of promoting this typeof environmental awareness.

China has h ad cam pa igns like "To Establish Cultural an d Sanitary Cities

Everyone Has Responsibility", and littering is among the list of evils

associated with uncultured and unsanitary cities (right between spitting and

utterin g obscenities). In m any cities, littering is a finable offence, bu t

enforcement is poor. The establishment of cultura l and san itary cities has

been an objective of the Chinese government since the early 1990s.

How ever attitud es are slow to change and it is unlikely that there will be

significant change in th e pu blics environ menta l consciousness un til the new

generation that w ere taught environmental awareness through the formal

education system account for a larger proportion of the population.11

Biodegrad able packing ma terials are practically non-existent in China, wh ere

plastic bags and wrapp ing rein suprem e. How ever from an environmental

point of view, China has a grave need for biodegra dab le materials. Also a

redu ction in the use of disposable bags and plastic packaging m aterials is

necessary. Some environm entalists are calling for an end in the use of

disp osable chopst icks: perh aps as man y as hun dred s of millions of chopsticks

a day are being used once and thrown aw ay.

4.2 WASTE COLLECTIONWaste collection services vary eno rmou sly between Chinese cities and evenwith in different parts of cities. While the waste collection services to the

mod ern, high-rise apartm ent blocks of downtow n Beijing are adequ ate, 10 km

out o f the city center, refuse collection system s in the less wealthy su burb an

areas are considerably more rudim entary. Generally, collection in the major

cities in China is carried out as a two-tier system: primary and then secondar y

collection. Primar y collection covers storage and tran sporta tion of the waste

from the h ouseholds to local collection points and this is achieved by va rious

mean s. Secondar y Collection covers storage and transp ortation from the

local collection points to points of treatment and disp osal and is und ertaken

as a mun icipal respons ibility.

In terms of prim ary collection, for some areas hou seholders d eliver theirwa stes directly to a local collection point. In other areas, waste is deposited

in containers and from there is removed by workers from the residents

11 Hend erson et al 1997: 4


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committees to the collection points. This is particularly the case in high-rise

apa rtmen t and commercial buildin gs. Here waste is typically stored in

containers and becomes the resp onsibility of a p rofessional team of collectors

and / or residents comm ittee workers who are respon sible for cleanliness in

the residential and / or comm ercial area. Social unit cleaners are responsible

for MSW collection from units such as schools, factories, stor es etc. MSW is

generally brought to the collection stations in baskets and/ or hand carts.

Collection points m ay be as simple as a designated s pot to p ile garbage or as

advanced as designated refuse disposal buildings.

While the quality an d r eliability of urb an MSW collection system s provid es a

relatively high level of sanitation, transfer and disposa l systems are not well

developed, and pose environmental hazards.

The open du mp trucks once

comm on in China are grad ually

being replaced with sealed tr ucks as

the du mp trucks are inefficient to

load and scatter refuse as they

travel. Comp action is not a critical

issue du e to the high density of the

refuse, although rear end loading

refuse compaction veh icles are now

used in th e central areas of most

major cities. Sealed refuse

collection vehicles are m anu factur ed

in several centers in China, and

include both semi-automated top-loading and

manu al rear loading units.12

In the p ast, landfills hav e generally been develop ed relatively close to the

urban areas and there has n ot been a perceived need to build transfer stations

to bulk up wastes for more econom ical transp ortation for disposal. Only afew of the cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, are know n to h ave dev eloped

such transfer stations and these are relatively rudimentary in terms of

western environmental standard s. This situation may change in the future

as landfills become larger and m ore remote.

4.3 RECYCLE,REUSE AND COMPOSTINGAlthough there are no municipally funded recycling systems in most Chinese

cities, the recyclable fraction of the w aste is m uch lower than for example in

Nor th Am erican cities. This is pa rtially due to lower consum ption rates, but

also du e to extensive buy-back and scavenging of recyclables.

Along with all of the other peddlers shouting their wares along China'sstreets there are peop le that will buy any r ecyclable item based on its weight

or un it value. These ped dlers in tu rn sell the recyclables to brokers and


Manually loaded open dump trucks, once

common in Chinese cities, are gradually

being replaced by sealed trucks. Source:

Henderson et al 1997: 3.


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processors. The brokers and p rocessors are almost un iversally privately run.

In add ition, refuse collection containers are continually scavenged by people

looking for recyclables. The system is rema rkably effective and by the time

the w aste arrives at t he land fill site, little recyclable material of any economic

value remains.

Many cities in China have set u p relatively low technology in-vessel

composting systems to process mu nicipa l solid was te. Mixed mu nicipa l

solid waste is delivered to th e facilities, and following ha nd sorting, the

material is fed into digesters. Following digestion, the comp ost is either sold

as-is or sold following addition of sup plemen tal chemical fertilizers. Overall

how ever, comp osting treats a very small percenta ge of the total mu nicipal

solid waste generated in China. When the composting systems w ere initially

set-up, the goal was to process mun icipal solid waste into compost an d sell

the comp ost at a profit. Experience has show n that the value of the comp ost

is less than the cost of pro du cing it. Add itionally, the systems have been

plagued w ith operating problems and do n ot generally meet their d esign

processing objectives. As a resu lt of these problems, th e majority of the

composting facilities have been shu t down and the cities that were pr eviously

composting municipal solid waste have reverted to uncontrolled landfilling.13

Food waste from restaurants is collected by other informal entrepreneurs who

sell it as pig feed. The site of ped al-operated, three-wheeled tanker cyclesplying the restau rant strips after the evening dinn er rush is common in cities

of all sizes in China. Pigs may therefore be considered as part of the organic

waste treatment chain.

4.4 DISPO SAL

Table 4.1 MSW Treat ment in 6 Met ropolit an Cit ies of China (2002)

(%) Simple Landfill Hygiene Landfill Incinera tion

Beijing 73 24 3

Tianjin 73 27

Shanghai 95 5

Chon gqing 74 13 13

Wuh an 13 84 3

Guangzhou 95 5

(Source: Li et al 2002: 3)



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4.4.1 Landfil lsLandfilling is the most common meth od of solid waste disp osal in China. In

general, Chinese landfills do not m eet best practices from either t he d esign or

management perspective

and only rarely manage

the MSW in a man ner

approaching North

American or European

standards. Every dum p

has scavengers on -site

trying to find something

that has avoided the eyes

of previous entrepreneurs.

The dum ps typically have

no leachate collection

system, have infrequent or

no cover system, have limited or no comp action, have no gas control system,

and have no w aste screening systems in place.14

In 1989, the Ministry of Construction develop ed a com preh ensive technical

mu nicipal solid w aste landfill stand ard for China (Peoples' Repu blic of China:

Ministry of Construction, 1989). The stand ard prov ides design and

managem ent requirements for mu nicipal solid w aste landfills and requires

that land fills be designed to

protect the environment.

Enforcemen t of the stand ard is

the respon sibility of the

pro vincial and m unicipal EPBs.

In reality, good land fill practices

are not well und erstood in China

and the standard is not being well

enforced. Only a few landfills,

such as the new ly developed ones

in Shenzhen and Gu angzhou are

considered to be operating at

anywh ere near internationally

accepted stand ards. Both of these

facilities are receiving operating assistance from intern ational waste

man agemen t contractors. In add ition, the Shanghai Governm ent has

recently let a DBO contract to Onyx, a French wast e mana gemen t comp any, todevelop an d opera te the new extension to its Laogang land fill, proba bly

Asias largest land fill. Opera tion of this extension is likely to set a

benchma rk for land filling in China in the future.


Changshengqiao Landfill in Chongqing opened

in Jul 2003 and was unded b the World Bank

Uncontrolled landfill in Chongqing. Source:

Henderson et al 1997:5


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Elsewhere, even where funding has been provided by the World Bank and

others to develop landfills to modern standards, these are often inadequately

operated and still pose a threat to the environm ent.

4.4.2 Wa ste Incinerat ionAs problems with u pgrading th e landfills to a reasonable standard to protect

the environm ent continue, MSW incineration (waste to energy treatm ent) has

become pr eferred disp osal option in ma ny Chinese cities. MSW incineration

began in China in the late of 1980s and d eveloped rap idly in the 1990s. As

of 2002, more than 30 enterp rises, research institutes an d u niversities were

concentrating on research and development associated with incineration

technology and equip ment. Over 30 large and mid dle scale cities have

constructed MSW incineration p lants.15 Many of these incinerat ion facilities

are set up w ith foreign technology from compan ies such as Mitsubishi,

Ahlstrom , Novel etc, and several of these facilities, includ ing those in

Guan gdon g, Shan ghai and Tianjin, are operated as joint ventures w ith

multinational partners.

The city of Shenzh en is wor th noting in regard to MSW incineration, since

there are already 17 incineration plants in place. Shenzhen, located near

Hon g Kong in south ern China, is a prosp erous city that can afford the

technology that w aste incineration d eman ds. Also, the city of Shanghai has

recently let a contract for the op eration of its 1000 tpd MSW incineration p lant

in Puxi to Onyx and its new MSW incineration plant in Pud ong to Impreglio,

an Italian waste comp any, to ensure th at these facilities are operat ed to

international stand ards.

Due to th e high food and inorganic waste content of Chinese mun icipal solid

wa ste, the calorific value is mu ch lower than the calorific value of North

Am erican or Europ ean mu nicipal solid was te, althou gh it has increased in

recent years . In year 2002 the average calorific valu e of the MSW in China

wa s about 3300 KJ/ Kg, but this figure varies as well according to th e city and

its living standard .

In respons e to the recent Severe Acute Respiratory Synd rom e (SARS)

epidem ic in China, the State Council issued a notice in 2003 to expedite th e

construction of central med ical wast e treatment facilities. Accord ing to the

10th Five-Year Plan, cities with ov er 200,000 in pop ulation sh ould have central

med ical waste treatm ent facilities by theend of 2005. The main pu rpose is to

prev ent and contr ol the spread of viral and bacterial infections.

15 Li et al 2002: 3

Kommentti [DAA4]: It isdifficult to believe that these are all

municipal wastes incineration

facilities.


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5 MAJO R CITIES

5.1 BEIJING Beijing m unicipality generat es mu nicipal solid waste as m uch as 10,000 tons a

day , which tota ls 3,650,000 tons a year. Managing of all this waste h as become

a serious prob lem. Beijing has all together 73 landfills scattered alongside of

the 6th ring road bu t even that is not enou gh. Moreover, most of the landfillsites are poorly man aged. All over, Beijing has an u rgent need for mod ern

land fill sites (althou gh there is no free space for them ) and new w aste

incineration plants.

With the ap proach of the 2008 Olymp ic Games, the race is on to imp rove the

stand ard of MSW man agemen t in the Chinese capital. A stated priority of

the Green Beijing plan d eveloped by Govern ment in su pp ort of Beijings

Olymp ic bid is to reduce the city's daily garbage. Furtherm ore, the Beijing

Governm ent has stated that by 2007, regulations w ill ensur e the safe and

efficient disposal of all d om estic rubbish.

The Beijing Mu nicipal Governmen t annou nced plans to establish th efollowing waste m anagem ent facilities by 2008:

7 integrated processing plants; 3 incineration facilities; 2 waste transfer stations; and 3 landfills.

Upon completion of th ese facilities, Beijing w ill be able to p rocess around

12,500 tonnes of rubbish on a daily basis starting from 2008. The project,

wh ich will be opened for bid ding, w ill need an inv estment of RMB 3.2bn (US$

386.63 Million).

5.2 SHANGHAIShanghai is also soon to host another high-p rofile international event- the

World Expo 2010. Shanghai probably ad opts th e best was te managem ent

pra ctices of any city in China. With the help of World Bank and Asian

Developm ent Bank, Shanghai m unicipality has been able to bu ild landfill sites

with m odern technology and has recently constructed tw o mod ern MSW

incineration facilities.

5.3 GUANGDONG

Guangdon g, the prosperous south ern province home to the cities of

Guan gzhou and Shenzh en, still faces serious prob lems. The Guan gdon g

Provincial Environm ent Protection Bur eau h as issued a new plan in an effort

to effectively control solid waste pollution by 2010. The new p lan includes

12 pro jects w ith a projected investm ent of nearly US$2.63 billion. It intend s


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to redu ce, reuse, and r ecycle solid wastes throu gh the establishmen t of an

integrated management control system in the p rovince for handling and

treating solid wastes.

According to government statistics, solid waste generated in Guangdong

amounted to 46.34 million tons in 2000 (of which 27.68 million tons were

dom estic garbage; 16.4 million tons were ord inary ind ustrial solid waste;

972,600 tons w ere d angerou s waste includ ing 426,000 tons of medical w aste;

350,000 tons were used electrical appliances; 940,000 tons were plastics,

packaging stu ff and agricultur e-used films). The province, however, only has

the capacity to treat abou t 20 million tons of solid wast e per year. Abou t 14%

of its domestic waste an d 16% of its medical waste is dispos ed of annu ally.

The capacity to treat hazardous and industrial solid waste is also inadequate.

A significant amou nt of solid wast e is presently not treated prop erly, causing

secondary environmental p ollution.16

5.4 CHONGQING Chongqing is reported as the largest mu nicipality on earth, with a p opulation

of something over 30 million, although Chon gqing City Proper on ly has a

pop ulation of aroun d 5 million. Like Beijing and Shanghai, it has provincial

level status, althoug h its total physical land ar ea is mu ch larger than these

two cities.

Chongq ing City Proper was repo rted to be prod ucing 2.5 million tonnes of

mu nicipal waste p er year in 1996, but th is is likely to have grow n w ith a

recent influx of popu lation from the m ore ru ral areas, to over 4 million

tonn es. The city opened a new lan dfill in July 2003 using World Bank

fund ing. Because the loan had to be used w ithin 3 years, the whole site has

been developed in terms of liner constru ction, leachate control and gas

venting systems; un usu al in terms of norm al land fill developm ent. There

are qu estions over the likely integrity of the constru ction, parts of which may

not be used for 10 to 15 years. Also, opera tion of the land fill still follows

many of the previous practices of open du mp ing, with no prop er daily cover

being used and constant comp laints from local residents of flies, other disease

vectors and odor.

The Chon gqing Governm ent is looking to shortly open a further n ew land fill

and has let a contr act to a local consortium to develop an d op erate a 1000 tpd

MSW incineration facility.

5.5 SMALLERCITIESThe growth of smaller towns has also been remark able. The populat ion in

smaller towns increased from 170 million in 1978 to 456 million in 2000.

16 US Commercial Service 2003


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6 FUTURE TRENDS; TECHNOLOGY, P RO JECTS, SPECIAL N EEDS OFCHINA

The trend for imp roving MSW man agement ov er the last decade will likely

imp rove into the foreseeable futu re, with the larger cities establishing modern

land fills and incineration facilities. Over time, this trend will extend to the

smaller second-tier cities in China. How ever the issue of pr oper

management and operation of modern treatment and disposal facilities is

critical; the most m odern treatm ent technology av ailable is only effective if

properly managed. As such, the transfer of management know-how and

capacity building in this area will remain import ant over the coming years in

China.

As the economy of China continues to d evelop, there may be less

involvement from international development agencies in MSW management

as the Chinese Governm ent w ill increasingly be expected to initiate

improvements in this area themselves.

As for high technology app lications such as flue gas cleaning for MSW

incineration plants, this is something for technology firms to w atch, but the

realization of business opp ortun ities is proba bly a few years off yet.

7 CONCLUSIONS

While Chinas rapid econom ic developm ent has resulted in an increase in the

amount of solid w aste generated, w aste management has been neglected.

The Governmen t has recently begun to ad dress this issue, starting in the large

cities.

While this stud y is not a mar ket analysis, the following oppor tun ities for the

pro vision of the following services/ technologies in China have been

identified:

MSW storage equipment; MSW transportation equip ment; MSW landfill and sanitation equip ment an d technology; and MSW incineration equipment.

Whether or n ot these commercial oppor tun ities are realized w ill, to a large

extent, depend on the policy of the Chinese Government towards

procu remen t of best available technology. Recent experience suggests that

Municipal Governments are interested in cooperating with foreign partners,

with several large-scale mod ern trea tment an d d isposal facilities being

established.


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INTERVIEWS

Juhani Efraimsson, Plancenter, www.plancenter.fi

LITERARY SOURCES

CHINA DAILY: 8.10.2001 and 28.12.2003

FINPRO 2004: World Bank Financed Waste Management Projects:

Overview of the Waste Management Markets and Trends in

Developing Countries and Prospects for Finnish Companies

GREENSMART CORPORATION 2004:

http://www.greensmartcorp.com/environment.html

HENDERSON, PAUL J. & TERRILL J. CHANG 1997: Solid Waste

Management in China

LI, XIAODONG et al 2002: Development of Municipal Solid Waste

Incineration Technologies

OLLEY, JANE & DR. RADA OLBINA 1999: Innovative solid waste

management in China

PEOPLES DAILY: 20.2.2002 and 21.11.2003

US COMMERCIAL SERVICE 2003:

http://www.buyusa.gov/china/en/ccb030606.html

WORLD BANK 1999 (Hoornweg et al.): What a Waste: Solid Waste

Management in Asia

ZURBRGG, CHRISTIAN 2003: Urban Solid Waste Management in Low-

Income Countries of Asia. How to Cope with the Garbage Crisis


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SOME LINKS

New laws

http :/ / english.peopledaily.com.cn/ 200312/ 28/ eng20031228_131372.shtm l

http:/ / ww w1.chinadaily.com.cn/ en/ doc/ 2003-12/ 28/ content_293930.htm

Ministry level campa igns etc.

http :/ / fpeng.peopled aily.com.cn/ 200109/ 13/ eng20010913_80125.html

http:/ / www .cin.gov.cn/ habitat/ en/ Programmes/ Programmes02.htm

www.cin.gov.cn

Model cities

http:/ / www .chinacp.com/ eng/ cplinks/ citylinks.html

http:/ / www .chinagate.com.cn/ english/ 1871.htm

2002 Report of the State of the Environ men t

http:/ / www .zhb.gov.cn/ english/ SOE/ soechina2002/ index.htm

The Priority Programm e for Chinas Agenda 21

http:/ / www .acca21.org.cn/ pcprite.html

NGO

China Association of Urban Environm ental Sanitation

http:/ / www .zhb.gov.cn/ english/ NGO/ CAUES.htm

Foreign actors

ADB

http:/ / www .china.org.cn/ english/ 2001/ Aug/ 17314.htm

World Bank: solid w aste in Asia

http:/ / www.worldbank.org/ html/ fpd/ urban/ publicat/ waste.pdf

Companieswww.erm.com

http:/ / www .dckonsult.com/ news-envir-solidwaste.htm

http:/ / www .greensmartcorp.com/ environment.html

Ecological sanitation

http:/ / news.bbc.co.uk/ 1/ hi/ sci/ tech/ 2860461.stm

Indu strial Solid Waste

http:/ / www .zhb.gov.cn/ english/ SOE/ soechina1999/ solid/ soliddown.htm

beijing ms w content 03

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