China: Plenty of trash to burn
Between Western imports and domestic consumption, trash landfills in several cities are now quickly running out of space [zh]. Trash-to-energy incineration plants have been in use for several years, and while now banned from urban areas, continue however to be a cause of concern for urban residential communities.
Southern Metropolis Daily journalist Liu Tianzhao has been paying the issue attention recently on Twitter after her work was harmonized [zh] pre-publication, noting that regulations passed last year require new incineration plants built over the next three years [zh] to maintain a buffer safety zone of no less than 300 meters and, in one Bullogger post, quotes [zh] two Chinese specialists on the risks and specific challenges faced in seeking to reduce the release of dioxins while incinerating Chinese trash.
She also notes [zh] that 20 trash-to-energy incinerators will be built in coastal Fujian province alone over the next three years, each with a capacity to reduce harmful emissions to that of 70% of international standards.
This tweet she directed at social critic and active Twitter user Lian Yue, who lives in Fujian. He in turn notes that various departments offer incentives to encourage the building of trash incinerator plants—a sign, Lian Yue morbidly points out, that bodies such as the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Environmental Protection aren't just incapable of curbing pollution, but in fact benefit from the failure to do so.
Earlier this year, the government in Panyu district in southern China's Guangzhou announced the planned construction of a trash incineration plant which has given rise to much local controversy. As Yangcheng Evening News blogger Mo Ke writes, the plant will likely already be up and operating by this time next year:
城市垃圾的处理是一个世界性的难题，我们也不例外。据番禺区市政园林局长周剑辉称，两年内番禺或遭遇“垃圾围城”，垃及形势刻不容缓，故希望国庆后就开工建设，且越快越好。同时，有关部门信誓旦旦地表示，该垃圾焚烧项目的技术、工艺先进成熟，垃圾焚烧释放的二恶英含量非常少，不致造成环境污染，而且该项目的选址也已是“最优选择”，希望居民不必视垃圾焚烧厂为“洪水猛兽”。据悉，该项目正在进行环评。但已经征了地，并完成了部分补偿工作。未敲钟先入饭堂矣。
有关部门也声称，“不可能上一个污染项目”，但即使如此，这并不足以缓解和打消周边数十万居民对该工程项目可能造成的环境污染，及其对人们生命健康构成威胁的极度忧虑。
The relevant authorities have also stated that “this will absolutely not be a polluting project”, but even so, this is not enough to ease or dispel the high degree of anxiety the tens of thousands of residents from the surrounding area have that this project will create pollution and pose a threat to their health and livelihood.
实际上，周边居民对垃圾焚烧厂的担忧并不多余。二噁英是国际公认的一级污染物，是毒性最大的化合物之一，其毒性是氰化物的130倍、砒霜的 900倍，国际癌症研究中心已将其列为人类一级致癌物。即使是微量的二噁英也对人体有害。而就目前技术而言，垃圾焚烧项目事实上也并非如官方所说的那样环保、安全，即使在学术研究层面上，也存在巨大争议乃至截然相反的观点和结论。美国环境健康基金全球化学安全项目总监约瑟夫·迪冈认为，垃圾焚烧炉是产生二噁英的重要途径之一。而目前国际上对二噁英的实时监测尚是难题。英国伯明翰大学环境化学高级讲师斯图尔特·哈瑞说，对二噁英的实时监测，虽有很多研究，但他认为到现在还是不可能的，“现在最快的监测速度只能做到12个小时，且非常难做到。”
With the Panyu incinerator located just a few kilometers from several of the largest residential communities in Guangzhou, as NetEase reports, tens of thousands of homeowners in the area now oppose the plant's imminent launch; comments on that report included:
1
解决垃圾不是问题
关键是程序
为什么公众永远被蒙在鼓里？
2
一个骗子骗人1000次以后宣布从此要讲实话
谁敢相信他？
The problem is the manner in which it's done
Why does the public always have to be kept in the dark?
2. If a liar cheats you 1000 times then announces will henceforth speak the truth
Who will believe him?
处理这类问题很简单。
我们都听说过：就餐时，客人发现饭菜里有只苍蝇，喊来老板，老板立马吃掉，以示无碍。
反正都住番禺，利益相关人都安置在周围楼盘，既可解决员工福利问题，又可拉动房地产市场，还可以照顾人心….一石多鸟。
We've all heard this story: during a meal, a customer finds a fly in the food and calls the boss over. To show there's no problem, the boss snaps it up and eats it.
The shareholders all live in Panyu anyway, so put them up in the surrounding buildings; this'll solve the problem of worker benefits, and will stimulate the local real estate market, as well as putting people at ease…one stone, many birds.
叫张广宁妈妈住到那个厂区去
其实是业主怕的是他的房子以后没有升值空间。
番禺区市政园林局局长周剑辉希望尽快动工
你们猜垃圾场是谁的
And can you guess who the incineration plant belongs to?
我觉得这又是政府无知、无能、短视的又一个例子！
番禺拥有广泛的未开发地方，真需要在已经发展成熟的华南板块中心，搞一个垃圾焚烧厂？在此搞的唯一理由只是运输成本低！
从地图可以看到：附近是住宅、是新火车站、是番禺的商务旅游区，八年左右就会发展为类似现在天河体育中心一样的区域！
试想在繁华的北京路旁边有一个垃圾焚烧厂，合适吗？
使用五年再搬？
这不是浪费纳税人的钱吗？
Panyu is full of uninhabited land, do they really need to build a trash incineration plant right in the middle of the heavily developed part of north Panyu? The only reason they're building it there is because shipping costs will be low! If you look at a map you can see that right in the area are residences, the new train station, Panyu's business and tourism district, the district that in about eight years is supposed to be as developed as central Tianhe is now!
Just think about it, would it make sense to build a trash incineration plant right beside bustling Beijing Road?
And they're gonna move it in five years?
Isn't this a waste of taxpayers’ money?
[listing all the large residential communities in the vicinity] 真不知是番禺的那些专家选的地址.环保所的局长一定不在附近居住.既然最先选择了开发这一地区(广州新客站)为什么又要去破坏这一地方呢(垃圾焚烧厂)…………..请各位领导再仔细考虑考虑.既生俞,何生亮呀!
Since they chose this spot early on for development with the new Guangzhou train and bus station, why now are they going to ruin it with a trash incineration plant?……….please, leaders, think about this very, very carefully.
We never win!
群众不理解可以等等.没有地方放垃圾就堆起来,等到群众有要求了在建嘛.
建可以，但也不能拿老百姓的健康开玩笑啊，那么多空地不选，选一个居民集中区！！！不仅仅是番禺的垃圾，还要承担广州市的垃圾！呵呵，人们从亚洲第一大火车站出来以后，一定会感叹：哇，广州的“烟筒”如此壮观！！欢迎大家到亚洲第一大火车站接受“二噁英”的洗礼！！！
我是环保行业从业人员，从事环保治理工程8年，参与过废气处理项目数项，也了解了一些国内外同类项目，没做过，也没见过那个环保治理工程效率能达到100%，而只能减轻污染，我们的专家良心在哪？还没建就敢说“无污染”？我只能说，狗屁专家为钱说话，为垃圾发电的国家补贴说话。另外在权力支持下的国有企业没几个认真做环保的，因为他们和上级部门一家的。强烈抵制。
在亚运会场附近、在即将建成的新火车站新省客运站附近、在密集的居民生活区附近、在广州未来的新天河城里建垃圾焚烧场，这种自毁广州的做法，是广州市领导的决策吗？你们是在建政绩还是毁自己的政绩呢？太愚蠢了！
“What shall we do with the garbage?” asks China Dialogue author Huo Weiya in a piece on Beijing's own trash troubles. “Burning them is not the end of the story.”
2 comments
I just wonder about the exact location of this plant in Panyu, Guangzhou… anyone has an address?