China will promote the recycling of gas emitted from untreated
waste landfills in the coming decade as part of its efforts to
substantially reduce the emission of greenhouse gas.
On
Wednesday, China's State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) announced the
establishment of new facilities to recycle gas emitted from
landfills into electric power and clean fuel. According to the
national action plan, the new recycling system will eventually be
implemented nationwide, based on several pilot projects in large
cities over the next five years.
According to the SEPA, China produces about 140 million tons of
garbage annually, of which 90 percent is dumped, untreated, into
landfills.
The untreated waste has not only generated serious air and water
pollution, but has also emitted what experts called "landfill gas",
consisting principally of methane, an important greenhouse gas.
SEPA sources note that the potential greenhouse effect of the
equivalent amount of methane is 21 times that of carbon
dioxide.
The Chinese government has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which calls
for global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, vowing to
shoulder its responsibility as a developing country.
The SEPA has helped three cities to establish and operate
facilities for landfill gas recovery and recycling with
technological and financial support from United Nations
agencies.
Implementation of the new system remains difficult for most cities
due to the shortage of funds for the establishment and operation of
advanced facilities because in China, disposal of the refuse is
funded by the government, with no private sector support.
To
address this problem, the national action plan contains a proposal
for the introduction of a fee-charging system for the garbage
disposal sector in order to attract private investors.
The plan also suggests that preferential policies with regard to
prices, taxes and tariff exemptions could be implemented as
incentives to encourage more businesses to participate in the new
recycling effort.
(Xinhua News
Agency October 24, 2002)