More Chinese Cities Turn Garbage into Power

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 26, 2002

More Chinese Cities Turn Garbage into Power

A large-garbage incineration power plant recently opened in the port city of Ningbao in east China's Zhejiang Province.

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A large-garbage incineration power plant recently opened in the port city of Ningbao in east China's Zhejiang Province.

The plant cost 400 million yuan (48.2 million U.S. dollars) and can incinerate over 1,000 tons of domestic waste per day.

Once incinerated, two tons of garbage can produce the same amount of energy as a ton of coal. Garbage power, therefore, like solar and wind power, is a environmentally friendly means of power generation, said experts.

Statistics show that domestic waste in China's large and medium-sized cities totals 100 million tons each year, most of which is buried in the outskirts of the city. About one third of China's 670 large and medium-sized cities are surrounded garbage, which is of potential harm to the environment.

Ningbo is the third Chinese city to have a garbage power plant, following Shenzhen and Zhuhai, two booming towns in the southern Guangdong Province.

A number of other cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Tianjin are following suit and turning trash into power.

Researchers have found that garbage shrinks 90 percent in volume and 80 percent in weight after being incinerated. Its residue can be used as environmentally friendly paving and construction materials.

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