Incinerator parks to relieve trash burden

By Ma Mingxuan

Four circular ecological parks over 6 square kilometers will be built in suburbs to aid in refuse disposal. The capital waste disposal system has reached its maximum capacity, making the location of new dumping grounds urgent.

Beijing was first besieged by trash in 1983, but the city today faces an even bigger problem: Urban refuse sanitary landfills, such as the Liulitun landfill in Haidian District, will close within four years.

Last time, it cost 2 billion yuan to haul out and dispose of waste outside the city. Since the city has seen an exponential increase in its garbage output, the closure of the landfills presents a major urban problem.

The four parks, according to Beijing Municipal Administration Commission, will be able to dispose over 7,000 tons of refuse daily by incineration and comprehensive disposal methods. The current landfills can handle only 2,000 tons a day.

The parks are expected to adopt side industries like agriculture to boost local employment and maintain the environment. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, and the parks will be able to dispose of refuse for at least half a century.

Comprehensive refuse disposal, followed by incineration, is proven much better than burial. Wang Weiping, senior engineer in Beijing Municipal Administration Commission, said incineration technology in China is equal to that used by the European Union, and more than 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, have been using incineration technology for several years.

Although the ratio of incineration to composting to burial is 2:8:90, that could become 4:3:3 by 2015 as incineration becomes more popular and daily refuse output contracts.

Refuse disposal was only named as a “public welfare service this April. “Refuse disposal is part of public welfare because it relates to everybody, and we want the municipal government to take responsibility an encourage everyone to help.” Wang said.

He said the profit-making problems of waste disposal facilities are also seen in private companies, but industrialization is essential to accelerate waste disposal.