Worsening garbage crisis set to bring higher fees

BEIJING - The city government will charge separately for disposal of kitchen waste and other refuse from non-residential buildings starting by the end of this year under a new regulation as it grapples with a garbage crisis.

The new move is expected to encourage people to sort their refuse and pave the way for more efficient garbage treatment, officials and experts said.

Under the regulation, set to take effect on Thursday, non-residential buildings, including companies, office buildings, restaurants and universities, will pay 25 yuan ($4) for each ton of kitchen waste disposed and 90 yuan a ton for other kinds of garbage.

At present, these buildings pay only 25 yuan a ton for any type of garbage.

Fees will rise in subsequent years. In 2014, kitchen waste disposal will cost 90 yuan a ton, with other kinds of garbage costing twice as much.

Lu Jiangtao, a municipal official responsible for garbage disposal, said that the move was intended to encourage the public to "foster a consciousness of waste sorting and reducing the amount of garbage from the very beginning".

The fees collected will be mainly used for household garbage collection and transportation, said Lu.

Experts said that as the city had plans to build garbage incineration facilities to reduce the need for landfill, the separation of food waste from other garbage was important because it was hard for waste treatment facilities to handle mixed garbage.

Further, food waste could be recycled to produce fertilizers, they said.

The new rule is expected to affect restaurants most.