Local residents from Shenzhen recently filed a lawsuit against a local environmental authority, saying that the authority offered an illegitimate reply to an environment evaluation report. Citizens urged the authority to recall the reply, according to a report by thepaper.cn.

Residents said that the report excluded soil and water conservation plans, and that there was no sign that the report had been approved by local water authorities.

However, the Shenzhen Human Settlements and Environment Commission explained that approval of water and soil conservation plans is not a legal requirement, so there was no violation of the law in this procedure.

The court will deliver judgment on this case.

The Shenzhen city government plans to build three waste incineration power plants over the next three years. One of them will be the world’s largest, capable of disposing of 5,000 tons of garbage daily. Construction work on the first of the plants began on April 15.

According to Wang Guobin, director of the Shenzhen City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau, the biggest plant alone can handle one-third of Shenzhen’s garbage, and will begin operation in 2018. In the meantime, Shenzhen will upgrade its current garbage incineration plants. The emissions performance will excel EU standards after the upgrade.

“The projects have gotten EIA approval and have finished preliminary construction. The main construction will start by the end of this year,” said Wang. By 2018, the three plants will together be able to dispose of 10,300 tons of waste every day, he added.