A garbage-processing plant in northern Beijing is to be transformed into an incinerator to reduce its affect on the environment.

 

The blueprint for the incinerator has passed environmental and ecological assessments and has been submitted to local government officials for further examination and approval, Zhao Lihua, deputy director of Haidian Administration Commission, was quoted by Beijing Youth Daily as saying.

 

Construction of the 800 million yuan (US$100 million) incineration plant is expected to start in mid-March.

 

The plant is slated to start operating by the end of next year, according to the blueprint.

 

"If the plant is built as planned, it will house two incinerators capable of disposing of at least 1,800 tons of garbage daily," Zhao told to the newspaper.

 

The existing garbage-processing plant, the largest in Haidian District, will reach its capacity soon. It handles more than 1,300 tons of garbage a day, about 60 percent of the waste generated in the district.

 

Nuisance to residents

 

However, the strong odor emanating from the plant has long been a nuisance to residents living nearby.

 

Several local residents started a petition to local government officials late last year saying the strong smell coming from the plant had negatively affected their quality of life.

 

"Because of the strong odor from the garbage plant, residents living a kilometer away dare not open their windows, even in summer," the petition said.

 

In response to the complaints, several members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference surveyed the plant last month, leading to the drafting of the incinerator plan.

 

The district government has also tried several other measures to reduce the plant's impact on the local community, such as building a wall to help contain the smell. The plant has also installed several biological deodorizers, according to a report by the Beijing Morning Post.

 

New incinerator

 

The new incinerator is expected to be an enclosed facility to reduce its effect on the environment, local officials said.

 

Most of the city's garbage is disposed of at landfills, or through incineration or composting, a biological process in which organic waste is broken down and absorbed by the soil.

 

"Composting is the best way to dispose of domestic garbage, which is mainly organic material," said Wei Qirong, a professor at the China University of Geosciences.

 

"Garbage should be reduced through recycling first and then disposed of in small batches at the source to prevent second-hand pollution during transportation," Wei said.

 

Beijing has 23 garbage-processing plants, including 13 sanitary landfills.

 

The city generates 11,500 tons of garbage a day, 96 percent of which is disposed of harmlessly, according to Beijing Environment Protection Bureau.

 

By next year, 98 percent of the urban garbage generated in Beijing is expected to be disposed of harmlessly, according to the White Paper on Domestic Garbage Disposal, which was released by Beijing's municipal government to create guidelines for the pollution-free disposal of domestic garbage.

 

(China Daily February 1, 2007)