China Environ Prot (EP) Industry, Technology, Solid Waste Mgt, Liquid Treat: News & Discussions

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Yuli County curbs desertification by paving checkerboard sand barriers
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-22 20:55:36|Editor: ZX

Aerial photo taken on June 20, 2019 shows the desert area paved by checkerboard sand barriers (C) and trees in Aqqik desertification area of Yuli County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Located on the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, Yuli County has started a project since 2016 to curb desertification by paving checkerboard sand barriers. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge)

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Shapotou Curbs Desertification by Making Straw Checkerboard Sand Barriers
Jun 22, 2018

Zhang Zhishan, deputy chief of the Shapotou desert research and testing station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, checks the cyanobacteria breeding pool in a greenhouse in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, May 30, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Cao Jiangtao)

Zhang Zhishan (1st R), deputy chief of the Shapotou desert research and testing station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discusses with colleagues subjects about desert plants in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 10, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

Gao Yonggui, deputy director of the Zhongwei sand fixing forest farm, checks vegetation along the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 12, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

Residents of Heilin Village Lin Zhifu (R) and Zhou Hong make straw checkerboard sand barriers in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 11, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

Workers take a forklift truck out of the Tengger Desert after work in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 11, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Cao Jiangtao)

Aerial photo taken on June 11, 2018 shows straw checkerboard sand barriers in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale.(Xinhua/Lu Ying)

A worker unloads wheat straws from a forklift truck in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 11, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Cao Jiangtao)

Workers make straw checkerboard sand barriers in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 11, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

A worker holding wheat straws walk past straw checkerboard sand barriers in the Tengger Desert in Shapotou District in Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 11, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

Aerial photo taken on May 30, 2018 shows a section of the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale.(Xinhua/Lu Ying)

Residents of Heilin Village Lin Zhifu (R) and Zhou Hong make straw checkerboard sand barriers in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 11, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

Workers make straw checkerboard sand barriers in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 11, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale.(Xinhua/Lu Ying)

Aerial photo taken on May 29, 2018 shows the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

A train runs on the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway in the Tengger Desert in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 12, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale. (Xinhua/Lu Ying)

 

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Waste-sorting campaign in full swing in China
By Wang Yi Source:Global Times Published: 2019/6/23 21:53:39

Circular economy on the rise amid environmental push

Students in North China's Tianjin Municipality participate in an event for promoting waste sorting in April. Photo: VCG

Chinese companies in the environmental sector are poised to benefit this year as the country steps up implementation of its waste-sorting and recycling campaign, backed by central and local government policies.

With preferential policies and hundreds of billions of dollars to support the campaign, environmental companies that supply equipment, chemicals and other services will see a significant rise in market demand, industry insiders and analysts said.

This expectation has been reflected in the recent stock rally by environmental companies, which outperformed China's major indexes last week. Many of these companies rose by the daily limit of 10 percent in response to new policies.

On June 5, the State Council, China's cabinet, approved a draft law for curbing solid waste pollution during an executive meeting. One day later, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Develop?ment issued a draft plan to implement garbage-sorting in cities across the country.

Major cities across the country have also released their own policies and regulations. For instance, Shanghai will start to implement waste-sorting from July, with potential fines of up to 200 yuan ($29) for individual violators and up to 50,000 yuan for offending organizations.

This intensive rollout of policies shows the government's commitment and points to massive demand for a wide range of environment friendly products and services. Guosheng Securities Co based in Beijing estimated that about 160 billion yuan will be needed for investment in equipment and facilities after garbage-sorting is fully implemented.

Makers of equipment for chemical and biological disposal of wet garbage will see an estimated growth potential of 56.5 billion yuan in equipment sales, and operating this equipment will cost about 13.7 billion yuan every year, Shanghai-based Guotai Junan Securities said in a research note.

In Shanghai alone, from 2018 to 2020, a total of 20 billion yuan will be invested in the implementation of its waste-sorting plan, Shanghai-based newspaper Jiefang Daily reported.

Companies are already rushing to prepare for rising demand. Tus-Sound Environmental Resources Co told the Global Times that it is planning to increase production, upgrade its business structure and expand its markets to take advantage of the new round of beneficial policies. The company's share rose 32.42 percent to 12.99 yuan last week.

Zhang Miao, the founder of waste-sorting company R Cubic, said that she is confident about business growth. "With so many preferential government policies, there is no excuse for companies to fail anymore," she said.

The expected boom for the environmental sector could persists because sustainable and green development concepts are what China's economy needs amid a transition from high-speed to quality growth, analysts said.

"More quality environmental projects will inspire private investment, which is crucial to steady economic growth," Tian Yun, vice president of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times.

Private investors want new growth points that are in line with the new development ideas of green, sustainable and circular development, Tian said.

 

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COMMENT * 25 JUNE 2019
Air pollution: a global problem needs local fixes | Nature
Researchers must find the particles that are most dangerous to health in each place so policies can reduce levels of those pollutants first, urge Xiangdong Li and colleagues.

Xiangdong Li, Ling Jin & Haidong Kan

People perch on a high building to observe the heavy smog that enveloped Zhengzhou, China, in January 2017.Credit: VCG/Getty

Each year, more than 4 million people die early because of outdoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The main culprits are fine particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometres or less (PM2.5). These can penetrate deep into the lungs, heart and bloodstream, where they cause diseases and cancers.

But global average estimates such as this assume that these particles are the same the world over. They are not: PM2.5 is a cocktail of chemicals (hydrocarbons, salts and other compounds given off by vehicles, cooking stoves and industry) and other, natural components such as dust and microorganisms. The mix — and its toxicity — varies from place to place and over time, in ways that are not tracked, understood or managed.

For example, in Asia, soot from residential heating and cooking is the biggest source of PM2.51. In European countries, Russia, Turkey, South Korea, Japan and the eastern United States, agricultural emissions such as ammonia are the leading source. Desert dust boosts air pollution in northern Africa, the Middle East and central Asia. It is not clear which source is the most dangerous.

Levels of PM2.5 alone give only a rough guide to the toxicity of air pollutants in a particular place2. Reducing PM2.5 by the same amount in different places will not deliver the same health benefits everywhere. To protect millions more lives, scientists need to help governments and municipalities to determine the most hazardous constituents of air pollution and mitigate them first. Researchers and policymakers need to rethink methods for assessing health risks and regulatory measures for reducing those risks.

Unequal toxicities
Evidence is mounting of geographical differences in health responses to air pollution (see ‘Deadly combinations’). For example, although the associated death tolls are high in China and India — industrializing cities are heavily polluted and lots of people live there — the relative risks to city dwellers in Europe and the United States are greater. Europeans and North Americans are more likely to die from heart disease and from acute respiratory attacks than are people in China, when exposed to similar levels of PM2.53.

Source: WHO (https://go.nature.com/2WTQPUJ)

Risks from dirty air vary between cities. Londoners and New Yorkers are at greater risk of dying when smog concentrations surge than are inhabitants of Beijing3. Each milligram of PM2.5 in dirty air in Milan is more likely to generate reactive species of oxygen (free radicals) that stress the body than it is in Lahore or Los Angeles4. Residents of cities in eastern China, such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing, have a higher death risk per unit increase of PM2.5 concentration (despite medium to lower concentrations of total PM2.5) than do residents in cities elsewhere in the country3. To put it another way, each milligram of PM2.5 in these eastern cities is more toxic than it is in the rest of China. And Beijing’s winter smog is more deadly than that in Guangzhou — a similarly sized city located much farther south5.

Cell and animal studies back up these findings (it is unethical to test the toxicity of air pollutants directly on humans). For example, the lungs of mice that had been exposed for 24 hours to PM2.5 from California6 were more inflamed than those of mice exposed to similar concentrations of PM2.5 in air from China. The difference could reflect higher levels of organic carbon and copper in Californian traffic fumes, although it is hard to translate findings from animal models to humans.

Mixtures of air pollutants might also be more harmful than their constituents in isolation. For example, the combined effects of outdoor and indoor air pollution and tobacco smoke could be responsible for 2–3 times the number of premature deaths globally than the WHO currently estimates2.

Few studies of the health impacts of air pollution consider these variations. Most simply look at masses of PM2.5particles and assume a single recipe. For example, the Global Burden of Disease project captures health risks in one ‘exposure-response’ function, which the WHO also uses7. This derives the likelihood of someone who has inhaled a certain mass of PM2.5 dying later from a related disease. It is based on hundreds of epidemiological studies, mostly done in Europe and the United States.

But we know little about how real smog affects health. Some substances are known to be harmful when inhaled. For example, transition metals, including iron and copper, produce oxygen free radicals. Links between prenatal exposure to free radicals in PM2.5 and low birth weight have been reported across 31 cities in Ontario, Canada8. By contrast, sulfates, nitrates and ammonium are much more common in smog but are less harmful than metals.

Some dangerous pollutants remain to be discovered. For example, toxic metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons accounted for less than 40% of the overall potential of PM2.5to generate oxygen free radicals in Beijing and Guangzhou in January 20145.What explains the rest?

Stoves that burn wood create soot, which is a major source of outdoor air pollution.Credit: Dmitry Feoktistov/TASS/Getty

Possibilities include secondary organic aerosols. These are derived from photochemical reactions of organic compounds such as isoprene (which is produced by plants and animals, and is found in natural rubber). Other ‘humic’ organics are released from soil and coal. Plasticizers such as bisphenols and phthalates affect the endocrine system9. But the toxicities of all of these substances in air breathed by humans remain to be assessed.

Biological components such as bacteria and fungi are rarely considered in health studies. These can be toxic in themselves or can interact with other chemicals to affect health10. Pathogens and allergens need to be evaluated. Floating in Beijing’s winter smog, for example, is a common bacterium that can cause pneumonia (Streptococcus pneumoniae) and a fungal allergen (Aspergillus fumigatus) that can invade the airways of people with immune deficiencies11. Compounds in the cell walls of bacteria (endotoxins) can induce inflammation, and other products of fungi (mycotoxins) can lead to respiratory conditions and infections.

The list is long. But the most important question is: which pollutants are the most dangerous in a given location and most crucial to mitigate urgently?

Next steps
First, the focus of air-pollution studies should shift to measuring health effects, not just emissions and atmospheric chemistry12. This must involve specialists from fields as diverse as molecular biology, toxicology, health sciences and economics. Researchers should rank sources of PM2.5 by how harmful they are, and examine the toxicity of samples of real air.

Next, that knowledge must be translated into local measures to control the most hazardous types of pollution. For example, efforts to reduce emissions from residential energy might be the best way to reduce premature deaths from air pollution in China and India; in that regard, northern China’s 2018 shift from using coal for wintertime heating to using natural gas needs to be evaluated. Similarly, clean fuel and energy-efficiency measures might be prioritized in the United States. And inorganic emissions from agriculture should be addressed in rural areas.

To achieve this, WHO data should be used to identify hotspot countries — those where particular health concerns are arising from PM2.5 pollution (see ‘Deadly combinations’). Niger, India, Egypt and Nepal should be included because they have high levels of particulates and high death rates. PM2.5 in Nigeria, Chad, Yemen, Sierra Leone and Cote D’lvoire might be targeted as being particularly hazardous because of these countries’ relatively high baseline death rates, which can be further exacerbated by medium to low concentrations of PM2.5.

The WHO, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank should fund a network of flagship stations to monitor the chemistry of air at key locations, starting with these hotspots and expanding to others. In situ cell and animal studies should also be conducted across cities. Methodologies will need to be standardized for studies of cells, animals and humans. For cell-based assays, the toxicities of PM2.5 mixtures could be quantified relative to the impacts of other chemicals, as is done in water-quality assessments, for example5.

Data from different locations and seasons should be openly shared and synthesized in a global database of toxicity, similar to the WHO data on global mortality related to air pollution (see go.nature.com/2fiq3tr). A toxicity database could also collect personalized air-quality data, for example from wearable sensors, and determine links between individual exposure to pollutants and health conditions.

More data should be collected on people’s behaviours and perceptions, to find out how human activity determines exposure to air pollution13. For example, such data could be translated into personalized air-quality and health-management alerts and recommendations. Smart travel warnings could be produced for sensitive individuals to help them to avoid hazardous exposures, such as when traffic emissions are high or weather conditions are likely to form haze.

Upcoming sessions on air pollution at the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology’s August conference, the December meeting of the American Geophysical Union and other international scientific events should pave the way for the research collaborations that are needed.

 

[JSCh]

Yuli County curbs desertification by paving checkerboard sand barriers
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-22 20:55:36|Editor: ZX

Aerial photo taken on June 20, 2019 shows the desert area paved by checkerboard sand barriers (C) and trees in Aqqik desertification area of Yuli County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Located on the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, Yuli County has started a project since 2016 to curb desertification by paving checkerboard sand barriers. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge)

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Shanghai sets up mega waste-to-energy plant
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-29 16:45:19|Editor: Li Xia

Photo taken on June 28, 2019 shows the central control room of the second phase of a waste-to-energy plant in Shanghai, east China. Shanghai has built a waste-to-energy plant that can treat a third of the total garbage produced by its residents, as the city pushes for greener development, according to local authorities. The second phase of the waste-to-energy plant was put into operation Friday. The project, with an area of 18.9 hectares, is expected to handle 6,000 tonnes of waste per day, according to its constructor Shanghai Chengtou Group Corporation. (Xinhua/Shanghai Chengtou Group Corporation)

SHANGHAI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai has built a waste-to-energy plant that can treat a third of the total garbage produced by its residents, as the city pushes for greener development, according to local authorities.

The second phase of the waste-to-energy plant was put into operation Friday. The project, with an area of 18.9 hectares, is expected to handle 6,000 tonnes of waste per day, according to its constructor Shanghai Chengtou Group Corporation.

A waste-to-energy plant is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity.

The plant is able to treat 3 million tonnes of garbage each year and generate around 1.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

Aiming for more efficient garbage disposal, Shanghai will implement its first regulation on domestic waste management on July 1, making garbage sorting compulsory.

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Photo taken on June 28, 2019 shows a corridor of the second phase of a waste-to-energy plant in Shanghai, east China.

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Photo taken on June 28, 2019 shows a corner of the second phase of a waste-to-energy plant in Shanghai, east China.

 

[JSCh]

Shanghai sorts out its trash
By Wang Qi and Chen Xia in Shanghai Source:Global Times Published: 2019/6/30 22:28:40

Residents become garbage experts as new rules kick in

Photo: Xinhua

China is attempting to engineer a huge shift in how businesses and individuals deal with garbage, as Shanghai becomes the first city to enforce new trash sorting rules that come into full effect on July 1.

Passed in the second session of the 15th Shanghai Municipality People's Congress at the end of January, the rules say that residents must sort their garbage into four classifications - household food or kitchen waste, hazardous waste, recyclable waste and residual waste. Individuals who fail to sort their trash may be liable for a fine of up to 200 yuan ($291), while firms and organizations can be fined up to 50,000 yuan.

The new regulation applies to tourists and visitors to the city, from home and abroad.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai has installed more than 13,000 waste stations, so far covering 75 percent of the city, and has replaced more than 40,000 streetside trash cans for different types of waste, which have more obvious and easy-to-understand signs.

The municipality is taking the lead in introducing a waste sorting system that will be gradually rolled out over the whole country. Following Shanghai, another 45 cities in the Chinese mainland will introduce similar regulations, including Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. By the end of 2020, the 46 cities will invest 21.3 billion yuan to build waste sorting and recycling systems, Xinhua said.

Local residents in Shanghai told the Global Times that some communities had taken part in pilot trash-sorting projects ahead of the citywide rollout.

Geng Dechao, a retiree, has been helping with trash cleanups since 2011. He said that his community was chosen to pilot the new rules last August, which involved taking garbage to the community waste station at certain times and sorting it into the appropriate bin.

"At the beginning, some of residents were reluctant and couldn't sort [the trash] properly, but now most of our residents can do it well and those who were reluctant are doing really well after we guided them," Geng told the Global Times on Saturday.

As July approached, Shanghai residents have shown a sense of humor about the new practices as they tried to learn what to do.

"The most popular place within our residential community is not the gym but the place near the trash bins," one net user joked.

Goods related to garbage sorting are selling well on Chinese e-commerce platforms like Taobao, with thousands of new trash bins sold last month.

Some people suggested that sales were so good that people were limited in how many they could buy.

Shanghai Municipal Education Commission has decided to include garbage sorting knowledge in the city's junior high school tests, according to reports on Friday.

 

[JSCh]

Shanghai sets up mega waste-to-energy plant
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-29 16:45:19|Editor: Li Xia

Photo taken on June 28, 2019 shows the central control room of the second phase of a waste-to-energy plant in Shanghai, east China. Shanghai has built a waste-to-energy plant that can treat a third of the total garbage produced by its residents, as the city pushes for greener development, according to local authorities. The second phase of the waste-to-energy plant was put into operation Friday. The project, with an area of 18.9 hectares, is expected to handle 6,000 tonnes of waste per day, according to its constructor Shanghai Chengtou Group Corporation. (Xinhua/Shanghai Chengtou Group Corporation)

SHANGHAI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai has built a waste-to-energy plant that can treat a third of the total garbage produced by its residents, as the city pushes for greener development, according to local authorities.

The second phase of the waste-to-energy plant was put into operation Friday. The project, with an area of 18.9 hectares, is expected to handle 6,000 tonnes of waste per day, according to its constructor Shanghai Chengtou Group Corporation.

A waste-to-energy plant is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity.

The plant is able to treat 3 million tonnes of garbage each year and generate around 1.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

Aiming for more efficient garbage disposal, Shanghai will implement its first regulation on domestic waste management on July 1, making garbage sorting compulsory.

​

Photo taken on June 28, 2019 shows a corridor of the second phase of a waste-to-energy plant in Shanghai, east China.

​

Photo taken on June 28, 2019 shows a corner of the second phase of a waste-to-energy plant in Shanghai, east China.

Asia's biggest solid waste treatment base
07.01.2019

The landfill and incineration plants are seen in the Laogang solid waste base. The waste treatment base covers 29.5 square kilometers in the Pudong New Area, even larger than the space of Huangpu District. Currently, Laogang treats 14,000 tons of garbage every day, about 70 percent of the total 22,000 tons of garbage produced in Shanghai daily.

With fire bursting out from two huge incinerators, the second phase of the Laogang Renewable Resources Recycling Center started operation on Friday.

The second phase of the center has eight incinerators that allow it to process about 6,000 tons of garbage daily.

With its first and second phases, the center is able to burn 3 million tons of garbage annually, which account for one-third of all household garbage generated in Shanghai a year, making it the largest garbage-incineration plant in the world.

The plant can generate up to 1.5 billion kilowatt hours of power.

“If you dump all garbage generated by residents in Shanghai in one day into the Hongkou Football Stadium, it would pile up to a 21-meter-high hill,” said Wu Yuefeng, chief engineer at the center.

“But after treatment, we can reduce the hill to only 2 percent of its original weight and 1 percent of its volume.”

According to Wu, 80 percent of the work at the center is done by machines. The mainframe in the central control room monitors all processes and data.

And the Laogang center is also more environmentally friendly. The slag of the burned waste can be recycled as building material.

“Once we make sure there is no toxic heavy metal left, the slag can be used to make bricks or cement,” said Wu.

The center has built a small museum for the public to learn more about recycling and garbage sorting.

In the future, the center is considering opening part of its facilities to the public as well.

The center is just a part of the Laogang solid waste base, which covers 29.5 square kilometers, even bigger than Huangpu District. It’s the biggest solid waste treatment base in Asia.

Construction on the base started in 1985, and it went into operation in 1989.

Since then it has handled 77 million tons of garbage, and its daily treatment amount is 14,000 tons, a big percentage of Shanghai’s 22,000 tons produced daily.

Garbage sorting will reduce the pressure on terminal treatment and cut the amount of trash produced, said Zhang Jun, operation manager of the Laogang Waste Treatment and Operation Co.

In addition, the separation of dry and wet trash will reduce the odor and percolation of waste in landfills, said Zhang.

The base takes odor-free measures around the landfills, with deodorant solution applied during operation.

Gas produced there is collected and turned into natural gas. Greenery will cover the landfill in the future.

 

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Beijing prepares to follow Shanghai’s garbage classification system
By Zhang Dan and Li Qiao Source:Global Times Published: 2019/7/1 18:33:39

○ Shanghai's first regulation on domestic waste management took effect on July 1

○ Communities in Beijing mobilize the elderly to advocate and supervise garbage classification

○ Promotion of garbage classification will also have benefits for public health and circular economy

A boy disposes of garbage in the Bund, a landmark in Shanghai, on June 30. Photo: CFP

Liu Yi (pseudonym), a female Beijing resident, has a source of joy these days - listening to her Shanghai friends talking about the difficulties of sorting garbage.

Is unfinished coffee dry refuse or wet refuse?

Coffee grounds are wet refuse and the plastic cup for coffee is dry refuse, so is a plastic cup of unfinished coffee dry or wet?

Similar questions have been asked by Shanghai residents almost every day as people in the metropolis have been required to abide by the new garbage sorting regulations.

According to Shanghai's first regulation on domestic waste management, which took effect on July 1, people who do not sort their garbage will be fined a maximum penalty of 200 yuan ($29).

This has led to a flurry of jokes on Chinese social media about local residents trying to make sense of how to sort their garbage.

After laughing at these jokes, Liu began to learn by herself how to identify dry and wet refuse, making preparations for Beijing's upcoming garbage classification measures.

According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, a total of 46 key cities in Chinese mainland are speeding up garbage classification work, and will generally complete their garbage classification and disposal systems by the end of 2020, thepaper.cn reported on Friday.

Geng Dechao, a garbage classification volunteer in the Xishan residential quarter in Shanghai, scans the code of an environmental protection account. Photo: Chen Xia/GT

Elderly volunteers

While patrolling near the trash bins at Xishan residential quarter in Shanghai at 2 am, 70-year-old Geng Dechao caught a man dumping garbage at a place that was not covered by surveillance cameras.

"There are residents who knowingly violate the rules and throw away their unsorted garbage at night," Geng told the Global Times, showing pictures and notes of rule-breakers he had taken over the last 10 months.

On August 6, 2018, Geng's community was chosen as a garbage classification trial zone, where residents have to sort garbage according to category and put them into the right garbage bin.

Geng, a retiree, was one of the three volunteers at that time whose job was to publicize, instruct and supervise local residents to sort their garbage and dump it at a specific time of day.

However, things were not easy at the beginning.

"People didn't understand me at that time. They asked me why a slum like our place needed to sort garbage," Geng said. Some even pressed Geng to show them specific legal provisions regarding garbage classification.

At that time, there were no established rules on garbage classification in Shanghai, which made Geng's work even more difficult.

A lack of supporting facilities was another problem. "At the beginning, even if some residents sorted the garbage and put the garbage into the bins according to their categories, the garbage truck collected all the garbage together, mixing all of it," Geng said, "People realized that what they were doing was useless."

Now with the established laws in place, things have become easier. The volunteer team has expanded from three to 63, and now includes college students and white-collar workers, he said.

"We also send volunteers to go to people's houses one by one and ask them to sign the agreement. Once they sign, it means the whole family promises they will not dump garbage carelessly from July 1," Geng noted.

A volunteer uses a machine to put points into an elderly woman's "green account" at Dongxing No.3 Community on Guangming Street, Beijing's Shunyi district. Photo: Courtesy of Hu Xiuyun

Beijing features

Like Shanghai, Beijing's many eagle-eyed senior citizens now have a new mission - making sure Beijingers sort their garbage.

Guangming Street in northeastern Beijing's Shunyi district started a garbage classification campaign in April, according to Hu Xiuyun, deputy chairperson of the neighborhood committee for Dongxing No.3 Community at Guangming area, which is home to 18 residential quarters.

Nicknamed the "fifth largest intelligence agency" in the world by Chinese netizens, the "Chaoyang Masses" group has begun instructing and supervising people to sort garbage.

Such groups appear to be dispersed throughout different districts of Beijing.

In Hu's eyes, there is an advantage to having senior citizens do this work, as the elderly have plenty of free time.

"The senior residents are happy to serve their neighborhood. They get along with most of the families in the residential quarter and are better at communicating than others," Hu told the Global Times.

Compared with the previous practice of hiring migrant workers to work as garbage collectors, the elderly in the community have more authority and ability to persuade their neighbors to classify their garbage, said Sun Jinghua, project director for garbage reduction in Friends of Nature, a Beijing-based environmental protection nongovernmental organization.

Zhang Yunxiang, a 68-year-old retired worker in Beijing, has been serving as garbage classification volunteer for Jinjiang Hutong, Xicheng district since November 2018.

Zhang is responsible for the promotion and supervision of garbage sorting in more than 70 households living in the Jinjiang Hutong and has received training by the neighborhood committee.

After training, Zhang taught neighbors how to classify garbage and also why it was important to do so.

Every morning after breakfast, Zhang will wander along Jinjiang Hutong to see if any houses are being renovated. He will supervise the renovation team to clean up their construction waste in time.

"After all, Beijing's garbage classification campaign is still a publicity initiative at present, not a mandatory implementation. Publicizing it among households is the difficult part of our work," he told the Global Times.

Volunteer work requires an ability to communicate well.

Zhang always gives his neighbors garbage bags provided by the community free of charge during his visits in order to make residents more open to learning about garbage classification.

"Unstable lifestyles and flexible schedules make it difficult to promote garbage classification to the floating population, which accounts for 20 percent of the people in Jinjiang Hutong," Zhang said.

Beijing people are not as punctilious as Shanghai people, so strict garbage classification is more difficult in Beijing, according to Zhang.

Although there are many challenges, Zhang said that public awareness of garbage classification has increased a lot in recent years.

A hutong, consisting of quadrangle dwellings, is a traditional residential community for Beijing locals. While they tended to be shabby and dirty before, garbage bins at the gate of every quadrangle dwellings have meant they are much cleaner places now.

Liu Jianguo, professor at the School of Environment, Tsinghua University, noted one of the difficulties involved in promoting garbage classification in hutong is the lack of clear lines of responsibility for residents, unlike in residential quarters, which have property management companies to regulate the community.

Because of this, management work for garbage classification should be more refined for hutong residents, he advised.

Past experience

Some Beijingers have different attitudes toward garbage classification.

"It will be a great burden on my life to sort garbage by hazardous garbage, recyclable garbage, household food garbage and residual garbage and take out trash at a set time, on top of the high pressure of work and inconvenient working times," Song Xiaojun, a 48-year-old Beijing resident living in downtown Beijing's Xicheng district, told the Global Times.

Beijing launched a pilot garbage sorting program as early as 2000, adopting a reward-based method, Liu told the Global Times.

"The work relied on the community to supervise efforts, but it had little effect as the supporting facilities were not updated," Liu said.

Currently, some neighborhood committees adopt a reward-based method to encourage people to sort garbage.

Residents who sort their garbage get coupons from volunteers. They can use the coupons to buy food and other goods in nearby markets.

With enough points, residents can get free daily necessities, such as tissues and garbage bags.

However, Liu noted that this method works for the elderly but not the young and middle-aged. As a result, he said the method is not sustainable.

China's ambition

The core of the work is not only about garbage, but making a city more livable and environmentally friendly, and enhancing modern urban management, Liu noted, pointing out the significance for China in promoting the garbage classification campaign.

"The campaign and legislation demonstrate China's ambition to move toward high-quality development," Liu noted.

Mao Da, a policy advisor at China Zero Waste Alliance, an environmental NGO focusing on the promotion of zero waste, told the Global Times that it is difficult to implement garbage classification as it requires a great deal of effort from residents.

However, garbage classification is an important aspect of ecological civilization, which can promote the development of China's circular economy and regeneration system. It will also benefit the environment and public health, Mao said.

The high level of attention the Shanghai Municipal People's Government is paying to the issue forms an important basis for the garbage classification campaign, he said.

The participation of the government, social organizations, the public and academic community brings the garbage classification policy in Shanghai more in line with residents' lives and makes it more operable, Mao said.

Other cities do not necessarily have to follow the garbage management systems of Beijing and Shanghai in their entirety, but can adapt measures to local conditions and learn some methods which are suitable for their own cities, Mao told the Global Times.

China has banned the import of foreign garbage since July, 2017, according to a document released by the State Council, China's cabinet, in July 2017.

Chen Xia contributed to this story in Shanghai.

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[JSCh]

China Focus: China starts implementing tougher vehicle emission standards
Source: Xinhua| 2019-07-02 00:17:48|Editor: yan

BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Several provincial-level regions on Monday started implementing the "China VI" vehicle emission standards ahead of schedule to ramp up efforts against a major source of air pollution.

Sales and registrations of new vehicles in regions including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hebei Province and Guangdong Province now have to comply with what is believed to be one of the world's strictest rules on automobile pollutants.

In Beijing, all new buses and other heavy-duty diesel vehicles shall follow the new emission rules, while all new vehicles are expected to follow suit starting Jan. 1, 2020.

All existing vehicles on the roads are obliged to meet the previous "China V" emission standards.

According to official data, emissions from some 6.2 million vehicles were responsible for 45 percent of Beijing's concentration of small, breathable particles known as PM2.5, a key indicator of air pollution.

Compared with the "National V" standards, the new rules demand substantially fewer pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matters and introduce limits on particulate number and ammonia.

The new emission standards were initially set to take effect nationwide from July 1, 2020. A three-year action plan on air pollution control released last July urged early implementation in major heavily-polluted areas, the Pearl River Delta region, Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality.

Automakers and the market have been preparing for the tougher rules.

Manufacturers have completed the development of most "China VI" models and have entered the stage of mass production and sales, said Liu Youbin, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

By June 20, 99 light vehicle makers had unveiled environmental protection information of 2,144 new models and 60 heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers unveiled information on 896 green models, Liu said.

"The market has basically accomplished a smooth transition," Liu said.

Li Hong, an official with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), said roll-outs of "China VI" vehicles as well as preferential tax and fee policies would boost China's auto market.

"The production and sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) will continue its relatively fast growth," Li said.

Car sales in China continued to drop in May, with about 1.913 million vehicles sold, down by 16.4 percent year on year, CAAM showed. Bucking the trend, sales of NEVs kept growing that month, edging up 1.8 percent year on year.

China saw robust sales growth of NEVs in the first four months this year with 360,000 NEVs sold, surging by 59.8 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Chinese authorities have announced that the tax exemptions on NEV purchases will continue through 2020 to boost the country's green development and retain a strong domestic market.

 

[JSCh]

This Chinese megacity is building a giant waste-to-energy plant

The Shenzhen East waste-to-energy plant is set to be the largest of its kind in the world.
Image: SHL Architects

01 Jul 2019
Johnny Wood
Senior Writer, Formative Content

The architects of what is set to be the world’s largest waste-to-energy plant describe their creation as simple, clean and iconic. It’s a mammoth structure which sits on the outskirts of the city of Shenzhen in southern China and once operational will process up to 5,000 tonnes of waste each day.

With a population of 20 million people, the city produces a lot of waste: about 15,000 tonnes daily according to SHL Architects, which will be used by the plant to generate electricity.

Part of the attraction of waste-to-energy technology is that it’s a dual-purpose solution – it rids urban areas of their growing waste problem, while generating electricity as a byproduct.

But the Shenzhen plant and has met with opposition from local residents and environmental groups who fear it will emit dangerous levels of dioxins and other toxins.

How does waste-to-energy work?

The process captures heat from incinerating unwanted waste materials, which drives a turbine to generate electricity. Burning waste releases harmful CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, but according to the architects, at half the level of an average landfill site – where much of Shenzhen’s waste ends up.

China has the largest installed waste-to-energy capacity of any country, with more than 300 plants in operation. This capacity has increased annually by 26% over the past five years, compared with just 4% average growth in capacity in OECD countries.

​

The plant’s roof will be fitted with 40,000 m2 of solar panels.
Image: SHL Architects

Interest in waste-to-energy technologies is growing, with the global market estimated to be worth $40 billion by 2023, according to the World Energy Council.

The world’s population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050, according to UN predictions, with 68% of those people living in cities, making solutions that remove urban waste and produce energy attractive to investors.

Wasted energy

China generates more waste than any other country, according to World Bank figures. But countries and cities around the globe face similar challenges.

Once constructed, Shenzhen’s new plant will combust roughly a third of the city's daily domestic waste. It will also generate some renewable energy via 40,000 square metres of solar panels on its roof.

While the new plant offers an alternative to the city’s overloaded landfill sites and makeshift waste dumps, its green credentials have been called into question. A residents’ group which fears that landfill waste ash and airborne pollutants from the incinerator will end up in a nearby reservoir has launched a legal challenge to force the site to be relocated to a less densely populated area.

Other proposed waste-to-energy projects around China – Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Shandong, Hainan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces – have also been met with protests.

And while such waste-to-energy projects provide a temporary solution to China’s growing trash problem, it is not a long-term fix. The Shenzhen plant has capacity to cope with about a third of the waste currently produced by the city, but the amount of waste is increasing by 7% a year.

Have you read?

• This African city is turning a mountain of trash into energy
• Here's why we should be turning our rubbish into fuel
• Rio de Janeiro is burning trash to create energy and cut emissions

A sustainable future lies in changing behaviour to reduce the amount of waste produced, and working towards a circular economy, where discarded items are increasingly reused and recycled.


One of China’s biggest megacities is building a giant waste-to-energy plant | World Economic Forum

 

[JSCh]

Across China: Poverty-relief relocation returns nest to eagles
Source: Xinhua| 2019-07-07 22:13:05|Editor: ZX

KUNMING, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Five months after the poverty-relief relocation, Laoyingyan Village in southwest China's Yunnan Province has welcomed an increasing number of eagles -- much more than Zhang Yunzhen has ever imagined.

Zhang is a resident in Laoyingyan, a poverty-stricken village in Huize County. It is halfway up the Wumeng Mountain region, surrounded by cliffs on three sides.

"No one can escape poverty in this village," said the 42-year-old farmer.

All of the 98 Laoyingyan residents live below the poverty line, earning less than 2,800 yuan (407 U.S. dollars) per year.

The road is the major obstacle. Laoyingyan is connected to the outside world only by a steep mountain road where people have to climb more than 10 km to get to the nearest market.

Even raising livestock is not easy. "We have to tie ropes in pigsties to prevent pigs from rolling down the cliffs, or our hard work will be in vain," Zhang said.

Laoyingyan, which means eagle rock in Chinese, is named after rocks behind the village where eagles used to nest and breed. It is said that ancestors of Laoyingyan settled down here to avoid wars.

"It more or less disturbs the animal's life," Zhang said. "Some people in nearby villages tease us as 'human occupying nests of eagles.'"

The opportunity of returning home to the large bird finally came. Under China's poverty relief campaign to lift all rural people out of poverty by 2020, Yunnan has been relocating those in poverty-hit communities to developed areas since 2016, constructing houses and offering tailored social services to ensure a smooth relocation.

In January, Zhang moved out of the mountain to the county. "With brand new houses, schools and jobs, I am living my dream."

Yunnan is expected to relocate a total of 995,000 impoverished people by the end of this year to help lift them out of poverty. So far, Huize has relocated more than 100,000 people.

After the relocation, Laoyingyan is no longer a village but a wild wonderland for eagles.

According to Zhang, on rocks behind Laoyingyan, an increasing number of eagles have made lots of new nests and some even swagger around with their babies in houses and yards.

"Eagles have returned to the eagle rocks, and we have embraced modern life. Humans and animals all live where they are supposed to," Zhang said.

 

[JSCh]

Carbon emissions to taper off by 2030
By Liu Zhihua | China Daily | Updated: 2019-07-10 10:56

Photography enthusiasts take pictures of the Forbidden City, a popular tourism spot, in Beijing, Aug 6, 2017. [Photo/IC]

Carbon emissions of China's power sector will peak in 2027, and will reduce to 79 percent of that in 2005 by around 2030, more than fulfilling the sector's carbon reduction commitments within the Paris Agreement on climate change, a new industry report said.

In 2050, carbon emission intensity or energy expenditure per unit of GDP in China's power sector, will further decline to 5 percent of that in 2005, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Bloomberg's primary research service on energy.

"China's power sector will go through a very efficient process of reducing carbon emissions, and the carbon emission intensity in 2050 is estimated to be below 52 percent of that compared with today," said Luan Dong, China renewable analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Luan made the remarks during a conference to launch the organization's 2019 New Energy Outlook in Beijing, which is an annual long-term economic forecast of the world's power sector.

That is an even greater achievement, if considering China's rapid electricity demand growth - the report estimated power demand in China will increase 65 percent through 2050, while Chinese GDP is likely to grow by 225 percent.

As costs of renewables continuously decline, they will challenge the current dominant position of coal in the power sector, according to Luan.

Onshore wind and photovoltaic power's costs of generation for new capacity will be more than 30 percent lower than new coal-fired power capacity in 2025, and then two to three years later, costs of new onshore wind and PV capacity will become lower than running thermal capacity, he said.

Currently, the cost of new onshore wind and PV projects in China, at the level of about $50 per megawatt-hour, is getting close to that of coal-fired power, he said.

Luan estimated that there will likely be no new coal-fired power projects in China from 2025, and coal-fired power generation will fall from 2027. By 2050, coal-fired power will take up about 15 percent of total power generation, he said.

He also estimated in 2025, the share of fossil energy in China's cumulative installed power capacity will decrease to 47 percent from the current share of 58 percent, while the share of renewables will increase to 50 percent from 39 percent.

In 2050, the share of fossil energy among cumulative installed power capacity is expected to drop to 23 percent, while the cumulative installed power capacity of renewables will surge to 67 percent, he said.

Wind and PV will take up 47 percent of total power generation in 2050, and the share for all renewables will be as high as 61 percent, while fossil energy will contribute only about 25 percent of total power generation, Luan said.

West China, with wide application of ultrahigh-voltage electricity transmission and increase in wind and PV power generation, is set to export 23 percent of its total power generation to other regions, becoming the top power export region in China, said Luan.

He said electricity vehicles and air-conditioners are the two sectors that will see remarkable growth in China's overall power demand.

He said about 10.4 percent of gross electricity demand will come from electric vehicles in 2050, while air-conditioners' share in gross electricity demand will reach 12.4 percent then.

Li Junfeng, president of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, said renewable energy is expected to meet most of the energy demand in China, as China keeps its commitment on carbon emission reductions.

Installed power capacity of renewables in China totaled 728.96 gigawatts by the end of 2018, accounting for 38.4 percent of the total, and registering a year-on-year growth of 11.7 percent, according to the China Renewable Energy Development Report 2018.

 

[JSCh]

New technology helps researchers decrease emissions at coal plants
2019-07-23 09:22:46 China Daily

Researchers at Zhejiang University aim to further lower the emissions of coal-fired power plants by improving the ultralow emission technology they have developed.

Their system can effectively reduce the emissions of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, sulfur trioxide and heavy metals such as mercury.

"We are improving the accuracy of the system, lowering the operating costs under variable load conditions and promoting the system from coal-fired power plants to also be applied to industrial boilers," said Zhang Yongxin, a researcher at the university's Institute for Thermal Power Engineering.

Coal is the main source of energy in China. According to the International Energy Agency, the country has been the world's largest producer of coal since 1985 and produced nearly half the world's coal in 2014.

Gao Xiang, a researcher at the institute who heads the team working on the project, said coal accounts for over 90 percent of China's proven reserves of fossil energy resources and, even though new energy is weighing in, its coal-based energy structure is not likely to change in the short term.

Pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and sulfur dioxide emitted when coal is burned are major causes of atmospheric pollution, including smog.

"So how to reduce the emissions of coal-fired power plants is of great significance to China's clean coal utilization and energy security, and it has become a national strategic imperative," Gao said.

His team has been studying technological answers to coal-fired pollution since the early 1990s. However, the diversity of China's coal resources－including their vast geographical distribution and the complex combustion features and pollutants－are some of the hardest problems to tackle.

"It requires that the clean system must adapt to these 'coal situations'," Gao said, adding that variations in power plants' output also placed high demands on the system's adaptability and reliability.

After over 20 years of research, Gao and his team developed an integrated ultralow emission system capable of filtering out various types of pollutants from coal-fired flue gas quickly and cheaply.

The team has been working with Zhejiang Energy Group to apply the technology. In 2014, the company's Jiahua power plant was retrofitted with the ultralow emission system, and the emission indicators of all major pollutants are now about one-sixth of strict European Union standards.

It has been recognized as a model power plant in energy saving and emission reduction by the National Energy Administration.

By June 2017, Zhejiang Energy had upgraded 46 power plants. According to company data, emissions of sulfur dioxide have been reduced by 83 percent compared with national emission standards, nitrogen oxides by 50 percent and particulate matter by 67 percent.

In January 2018, the project earned the first prize in the National Technology Invention Award. The Ministry of Science and Technology said the system had drastically reduced the pollutants emitted by coal-fired power plants nationwide while boosting their profits by 1.19 billion yuan ($173 million) from 2014 to 2017.

"We aim to further lower the emissions of multiple pollutants and also foster more young talent in this area of study," Gao said.

 

[JSCh]

China's man-made forest in the desert
2019-07-23 14:30:08 CGTN

Over the past 30 years, a quiet war against nature had been waged in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China's far west – to turn swaths of desert into an oasis of forest.

Leading this ecological campaign is the city of Aksu, located on the edge of China's largest desert, the Taklamakan, whose name translates to "the place of no return." As one of the biggest shifting sand dunes in the world, its size is slightly smaller than that of Germany.

Aksu used to be buried in thick sand for the better part of the year. Persistent drought hindered economic growth and defeated several attempts to extract groundwater.

"You couldn't open your eyes when the dark wind sweeps across the land," said 48-year-old Gan Yongjun. The “dark wind” can be seen gathering from several kilometers away, the darkness blocking everything in view when it comes and you need to find a place to hide, he explained.

For the past 30 years, Guo has been engaged in the Kekeya green project – one of the campaigns launched by local governments in 1986 to alleviate the plight caused by unrelenting dust storms.

Engineers, geographers and other specialists were summoned to survey the land and figure out sources of water. The team was also tasked with seeking ways to turn sand into soil fertile enough for plants to take roots.

"After water is poured, it would stay on the surface for eight to 10 days without penetrating the soil," Gan recalled. The high alkaline content in the soil far exceeded levels survivable for most plants, slowly corroding and eating away their roots.

To solve this problem, irrigation ditches filled with water were dug in the field in hopes that it would slowly seep through the soil and eventually dissolve the alkaline. Donkeys were the primary vehicle for transporting water.

"The trees we planted in the beginning died in large numbers," he explained. Yet, dissolution efforts carried on for four more years before plants were finally able to grow on the barren land.

People from almost every corner of the society – street vendors, firefighters, local officials – all participated in the ambitious and unprecedented greening project twice a year, mostly during spring and winter.

To date, over 13 million trees have been planted in Aksu, according to statistics from the local forestry bureau. Agriculture has become a pillar of the local economy.

Now, people throughout China associate Aksu with its sweet and crunchy apples while other produce such as walnuts, dates and raisins have also become popular in the grocery aisles.