Trash Incineration to Double by 2015

（Beijing）—One year after China saw its first-ever court case against a trash incineration company, citizens in different parts of China are still protesting their neighborhood waste plants over foul odors and potentially-harmful dioxin emissions.

In the meantime, Chinese officials are moving forward with plans to more than double the proportion of trash processed by incinerators in the next five years.

At a Shanghai forum on electricity-generating waste incinerators—also known as "waste-to-energy" (WTE) technology—Shanghai Environmental Engineering Design Institute Director Zhang Yi said China plans to use more than 300 waste incinerators by 2015, capable of destroying 30 percent of China's total waste, or 30,000 tons of waste daily.

China sees over 350 million tons of household waste annually, with 150 to 160 million coming from urban areas. Currently, 12 percent of waste treatment involves incineration, while the rest draws on other methods like landfills and composting. Incineration is a preferred method because it occupies a relatively small amount of space, and can better control for odor.

Despite this, at least ten protests against incinerators have flared up across China from June 2007 to January 2011—three in Beijing, three in Jiangsu Province, another three in Guangdong Province and one in Shanghai. Drawing on a Shanghai Environmental Engineering Design Institute study commissioned by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Zhang said citizens have thrown up a fight over excessive smoke and bad smells caused by low environmental standards and poor management, and because they are concerned that dioxin particles emitted by incinerators are hazardous. Higher housing prices have also caused residents to have higher expectations for their environments, he said.

Zhang said he did not think dioxin emissions pose a large threat to human health, but also acknowledged that local governments should choose more qualified incinerator companies during waste treatment bids. Strengthened management supervision and pollution mitigation are also necessary, he said.

In addition, Zhang suggested that local governments should provide preferential benefits and discounts in commodities like heating and electricity supply, in order to compensate residents for their proximity to waste treatment plants.