The Problem
Beijing, and many other Chinese cities, are growing rapidly and producing tons of waste every year. Rural to urban migration has resulted in tremendous amounts of waste as millions of people live consumerist lifestyles. 18 million tons of waste is produced in Beijing every day and this is taking its toll on the environment.
The rubbish is not separated; it all goes in the one truck. The rubbish is dumped in landfills in the outer suburbs. The anaerobic conditions of the landfills means that waste cannot decompose properly resulting in the production of methane, a greenhouse gas. Waste is also dumped in illegal landfills on the outskirts of Beijing. This creates social inequality between the people in the inner and outer suburbs; the poorer people in the outer suburbs have to live with the waste of the wealthy people in the inner suburbs.
There is no official recycling program, but there is an informal recycling sector - around 200,000 people in the outer suburbs of Beijing make a living by scavenging in waste to find materials to recycle and sell. Overall, they recycle almost 4% of the city’s waste.
Waste incinerators have been constructed around Beijing to try and dispose of the massive amounts of waste and produce electricity at the same time. But the urban waste has large proportions of organic waste and this makes it inefficient fuel. The incinerators require the same if not more energy to burn the fuel, defeating the purpose of the system. They also pollute the air with dangerous fumes. However, Beijing and many other Chinese cities believe this is the solution and are planning to build more incinerators.
The rubbish is not separated; it all goes in the one truck. The rubbish is dumped in landfills in the outer suburbs. The anaerobic conditions of the landfills means that waste cannot decompose properly resulting in the production of methane, a greenhouse gas. Waste is also dumped in illegal landfills on the outskirts of Beijing. This creates social inequality between the people in the inner and outer suburbs; the poorer people in the outer suburbs have to live with the waste of the wealthy people in the inner suburbs.
There is no official recycling program, but there is an informal recycling sector - around 200,000 people in the outer suburbs of Beijing make a living by scavenging in waste to find materials to recycle and sell. Overall, they recycle almost 4% of the city’s waste.
Waste incinerators have been constructed around Beijing to try and dispose of the massive amounts of waste and produce electricity at the same time. But the urban waste has large proportions of organic waste and this makes it inefficient fuel. The incinerators require the same if not more energy to burn the fuel, defeating the purpose of the system. They also pollute the air with dangerous fumes. However, Beijing and many other Chinese cities believe this is the solution and are planning to build more incinerators.
Possible Solutions
• Cleaning up the illegal dumps and making tougher laws against them.
• Instead of throwing out food scraps, feed them to pigs. Pork is a very popular meat in Beijing and doing so would reduce the cost of raising pigs. Urban waste would also become more efficient fuel for incinerating.
• The government could recognise the recycling sector and make it a formal sector to increase the efficiency and the amount of waste recycled. This was done successfully in India and Mozambique.
• Recently, anaerobic digesters have been considered and there are several pilot projects being held in China. Anaerobic digestion is when microorganisms break down biodegradable material when there is an absence of oxygen to produce biogas, which can be processed to make energy.
• Local businesses could help reduce the ecological footprint of urban residents by introducing policies encouraging the use of recycled materials.
Beijing needs to reduce the amount of urban waste produced and dispose of it in ways that aren’t harmful for the environment. They can reduce their ecological footprint by including the people as part of the solution.
• Instead of throwing out food scraps, feed them to pigs. Pork is a very popular meat in Beijing and doing so would reduce the cost of raising pigs. Urban waste would also become more efficient fuel for incinerating.
• The government could recognise the recycling sector and make it a formal sector to increase the efficiency and the amount of waste recycled. This was done successfully in India and Mozambique.
• Recently, anaerobic digesters have been considered and there are several pilot projects being held in China. Anaerobic digestion is when microorganisms break down biodegradable material when there is an absence of oxygen to produce biogas, which can be processed to make energy.
• Local businesses could help reduce the ecological footprint of urban residents by introducing policies encouraging the use of recycled materials.
Beijing needs to reduce the amount of urban waste produced and dispose of it in ways that aren’t harmful for the environment. They can reduce their ecological footprint by including the people as part of the solution.