Garbage Challenge in China - Essay Example

Garbage Challenge in China The growth of China has been on the upward trend in the last three decades to such an extentthat some economists have foreseen its level of economy exceeding that of the United States. However, this rapid economic growth has had significant share of problems linked to it. One such problem is the high degree of waste products in form of garbage that are being generated on a daily basis. This situation has become a bother to the government in Beijing as they seek ways to address the challenge. The problem is further compounded by the fact that Chinese resident starting from Hong Kong to other places such as Bolou and Tonghzou are against the idea of government coming up with incineration facilities to manage this garbage. Protests are order of the day whenever the governments set up to build such a facility. In this regard, this research paper seeks to find an answer to the question what is the most appropriate way of managing the thousands of tonnes of garbage produced in China each day? The research argues out that incineration is the best alternative to manage garbage in China as it not only reduces the waste in landfills, but also offers opportunities for the generation of additional electric power to be fed in the countries power grid system. Handling waste, which is a result of a rapidly growing middle class and per annum double-digit economic expansion over the last decade, stands out as one of the most prominent challenges China’s urban planners contend with. While most of the garbage, which range from food waste to construction rubble and plastic packaging, is dumped in landfills, policy makers are gradually embracing incineration as volumes step-up, in spite of spirited protests from some residents and environmentalists. In a You Tube video posted by D (English)Beijing’s urban enlargement has resulted to the trash problem getting even closer to homes. Landfill fields that once occupied the city’s outskirts where a majority of the city’s migrant workers resided now sit in the center of the urban conurbation that has developed around them. According to Shapiro, while China generates rubbish to a lesser extent on per capita basis relative to other economies such as the United States, its cumulative generation, at approximately 300 million tones every year, according to academic studies, is the largest in the globe, and still on an upward trend. Beijing’s population produces 23,000 tonnes of garbage each day, an equivalent of nine fully filled standard-sized swimming pools for Olympic Games. Essentially, the high rate of waste generation is attributed to China’s ever rising incomes and higher standards of living. Even in the state-of-the-art state such as Beijing, the government has contended with the ever increasing volumes of waste. According to the government statistics, the years 2005 to 2010 proved very challenging to waste management team as they had to deal with an extra 3,900 tonnes of garbage beyond the city’s ability to treat. In the capital, presumably neglected places such as Tonghzou were for years used as illegal dump sites. It was not until 2010 that the public rose up in arms against the negative impacts of the landfills. The government bowed down to media outcry and public pressure and rolled up a 10 billion yuan (equivalent of 1.6 billion US dollars) cleanup campaign targeting illegal landfills. While Beijing’s effort to cleanup man of the landfills is laudable, China’s garbage problem remains acute in the country side – this is according to Xu Haiyun, a chief engineer working with the China Urban Construction Design Institute. Mr. Xu adds that the environmental problems caused by accumulating garbage are bound to get more serious because most areas outside the cities lack basic systems for trash collection. Adoption of incineration facilities to address the problem of garbage in China has been met with mixed reaction with majority of local residents standing up against the government’s plans. According to reports by Buckley, report of NewYork Times, Chinese government has initiated a number of waste-to-energy projects, many of which, unfortunately, have been protested by residents who are cautious of the resultant toxic byproducts. The latest clash against government’s proposal took place in Bolou County. While Bolou government promised its residents that the proposed incinerator would generate electric power by burning about 700 metric tons of waste each day, the residents remained unmoved. Most of the residents argue out that the government’s promise of equipping the incinerators with scrubbers to keep pollutants at minimal is just a promise that may never be fulfilled. In general, the residents of this county are fearful that the incinerators would not only cause water pollution, but more so air pollution that would end up harming the residents. Zhang et al. note that recycling of waste products offers a basic strategy for reducing the amount of waste that end up in landfills each day strategy. This is an alternative that addresses the root cause of the problem rather than the problem by itself. Some analysts have already voiced their support to this move by cautioning against massive roll out of incineration facilities as it hardly solves the root cause of the problem. Instead, the propose adoption of a system that would targeting reducing the amount of trash that is generated. They further argue out that the problem cannot be resolved by simply focusing on trash disposal. True to their statement, manufacturing companies, business organizations, and institutions that package products for their customers or clients must take up the lead role in ensuring that recycling of plastic products is possible. Wang in his article suggests that consumers should be encouraged to re-use products such as plastic paper bags for future trade. In fact, the government can come up with incentives through these business organizations where those who re-use products such as paper bags are offered discounts. Another way of managing recyclable waste products is having a garbage collection system that would ensure that recyclable wastes are not dumped together with those that cannot be recycled. It then remains the responsibility of garbage collectors to take them to their respective destinations. Kaihua County in Zhejiang Province offers a laudable scenario of bottom-up initiative that promotes the use of a garbage classification and recycling approach in handling waste challenge. Starting from 2005, this County came up with garbage sorting facilities, organic garbage composting grounds, and landfills for inorganic and construction debris. Rotten organic waste may be employed in agricultural activities as it serves as natural fertilizer. This ends up saving the farmers from extra costing of purchasing fertilizer as it keeps the soil fertile throughout the planting season. Another potentially effective strategy for handling the garbage issues in rural China is to concentrate on landfill-to-energy generation, which would aid in resolving two pressing rural problems – that is abundance of trash in landfills and shortage of energy. Incineration stands out as the best measure to deal with the waste menace. Big cities have already shown their support to the idea of incineration as a means to deal with garbage, and China is already in the process of coming up with 90 new plants that will burn the garbage while simultaneously generating energy. Cities are equally rolling up technologies that transform landfills into an economic venture, including burning landfills gases to generate electric power that can be joined with the country’s power grid systems. Beijing, which estimates to have burnt only 10 percent of its trash as per 2010, has plans to increase this percentage to 15 percent by coming up with the largest incinerator in the whole of Asia. Noteworthy, China is already engaged in an international initiative that seeks to tap into methane from landfill. This program is dubbed Methane to Markets, and is a program done in collaboration with developing economies with the intention of advancing the recovery and used of methane as a source for energy. Tapping methane generated from landfills will greatly enhance waste management process. Secondly, there is an urgent need for the Chinese government to modernize rural waste infrastructure. This is the only way that the country can keep up with recycling and disposal technologies with the ultimate aim of improving the life of the citizens as well as the state of the environment. A research on various types of garbage is necessary so as to form the basis of determining those that are suitable for composting, energy conversion, or recycling. Works Cited Buckley, Chris. In Southern China, Residents Wary of the Government Protest a Plan to Burn Waste. New York Times, sept. 14, 2004. DW (English). China - Drowning in Garbage and Sludge! | Global 3000. Video. Retrieved from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvubC9QL2mo Ge, Z. H. A. N. G. "The Current Situation of the Garbage Recycling Logistics in Beijing City and Development Countermeasures." Sci-Tech Information Development & Economy 7 (2011): 073. Humes, Edward. Garbology: Our dirty love affair with trash. Penguin, 2012. Liu, Jianguo, and Jared Diamond. "Chinas environment in a globalizing world." Nature 435.7046 (2005): 1179-1186. Shapiro, Judith. Chinas Environmental Challenges. Polity Press, 2012. Print. Wang, Hua, et al. "Municipal solid waste management in small towns: an economic analysis conducted in Yunnan, China." (2011). Zhang, Dong Qing, Soon Keat Tan, and Richard M. Gersberg. "Municipal solid waste management in China: Status, problems and challenges." Journal of Environmental Management 91.8 (2010): 1623-1633. Read More