Shanghai will start to charge local enterprises for the waste they produce from August, at a rate of about 100 yuan (US$12.05) per ton.

The "free lunch" for local households will also end, with charges for garbage collection starting next year. Although the cost might be no more than 20 yuan for a nuclear family per month, the change could still be called a "revolution" after so many years of unlimited free garbage disposal.

"The measure will help to reduce the overall amount of waste, which is already approaching the upper limit of the city's treatment capability," said Tao Yuan, a senior official from the Shanghai City Appearance and Environmental Sanitation Bureau. Tao was attending an inspection, organized by the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, of the city's major waste treatment plants.

Statistics show that the city produced a total of 6.45 million tons of waste in 2003. It is predicted that by 2010 the figure will reach 7.3 million tons, based on an increase of 2 to 3 per cent year on year.

Currently, the waste treatment plants in the city, even when running at full capacity, still leave over 3,000 tons of waste without proper treatment.

"Much of this is simply buried underground," said Shen Caixing, another official from the Bureau.

The city still has some 780 temporary garbage collection sites in the countryside, posing a serious threat to the surrounding environment.

"We have plans to set up a unified transportation system for the garbage in the suburbs, eliminating all the temporary collection sites by the end of next year," Shen said.

However, even if all the rubbish could be taken to the treatment sites, some further problems would still remain.

The proportion of waste recycled in the city remains very low, amounting to only about 20 per cent of the total. Of the remainder, much is left inadequately treated. The two big landfills in Pudong, Laogang and Liming, haven't even reached the basic national standard for rubbish treatment.

(Shanghai Star  July 6, 2004)