中国的城市垃圾问题

Apart from illegal waste coming in from abroad, concerns are also growing over how to deal with the rising problem of China’s urban waste. As urbanization accelerates, and Chinese cities continue to swell, landfill sites are filling up fast and the problem is getting closer and closer to downtown areas. Up in northeast China’s Jinzhou City, it’s becoming a big concern for local people.

On the heels of rapid urbanization in China... is massive waste.

500 meters from this landfill site in Jinzhou City, a bad smell hangs in the air.

Wang Tao, Vice Director, Jinzhou Municipal Commission Of Urban Planning, said, "This is the old landfill site. It covers nearly 20 hectares. It’s now filled by 2.4 million tons of garbage."

The people of Jinzhou call it "Mount Trashmore". The unpleasant smell gets even worse in the summer heat.

But more worrying is the problem of leaks from the waste contaminating the ground water. Many fear it would lead to a catastrophe.

Li Feizhou, Director, Jinzhou Nanshan Landfill Site, said, "The landfill is 20 meters deep. The garbage is often burning. We must find a new method of refuse disposal as soon as possible."

There are more than 600 cities in China. Two-thirds are surrounded by landfill sites.

It’s not all bad news. More and more cities are using cleaner, more modern methods of disposal.

Ren Qinxin, Vice President, China Heavy Machinery Industry Association, said, "The garbage is crushed and incinerated at extremely high temperatures of 800 to 1600 degrees. After being incinerated several times, it can be turned into raw material for cement."

This use of a rotary kiln turns garbage into a resource.

But the real solution to the problem is to cut back on how much waste we ALL throw away.

Less food waste, and more garbage sorting and recycling. It’s a small change, but something everyone can do, to improve China’s environment.