China’s zero waste pledge warmly received at World Cities Summit

China unveiled its ambition to build zero waste cities in front of international audiences at a forum during the World Cities Summit (WCS) in Singapore, one of the biggest highlights of China’s pledges at ecological improvement.

Addressing the summit’s China Innovation Forum on July 11, Qiu Qiwen, director-general of soil environment management under China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced that China aims to carry out zero waste pilot programs in its cities to achieve the goal of a zero waste society.

By zero waste, the nation eyes to minimize the amount of waste produced, and strengthen recycling programs and ensure that waste released into the environment is harmless. All three processes have been brought under regulation with three national laws on clean production, circular economy, and solid waste pollution prevention and control, according to Qiu Qiwen.

By the end of 2020, a replicable pilot program that meets the nation’s zero waste criteria will be completed, Qiu noted.

China currently faces an annual solid waste output of 10 billion tonnes, and the total stock of solid waste has reached 70 billion tonnes. Insufficient waste management has already left some rural areas besieged by garbage, observed Qiu.

In response to the mounting problem, China’s National Development and Reform Commission has also solicited public opinion on its decision to charge garbage processing fees to urban citizens and to rural residents in the future.

“It is a very inspiring policy, but we also need to further improve our waste management processes,” Fang Chaojun, chief technology officer of waste-to-energy (WTE) giant, China Jinjiang Environment, told People’s Daily on the sideline of the summit.

The Singapore-listed company made its name by launching China’s first WTE plant with independent intellectual property right in China in 1998. Sitting on a large booth at the summit’s clean environment exhibition, the company’s sandbox demonstration of its WTE facilities amazed many international visitors.

As a garbage truck model backed into the model WTE plant, all the collected garbage bags were torn open for dehydration and classification before they become solid recovered fuel, which would then be burned at a temperature of 850-950 degrees Celsius to generate power.

Fang introduced that the company has installed some 20 WTE plants in 12 provincial regions, with a full garbage disposal capacity of 28,280 tons per day. The company has also helped set up WTE facilities in countries including India, Brazil, Indonesia and Singapore.

Combined, the company’s domestic projects can dispose the garbage of 74 million people every day and the WTE plants can produce more than 14 million kWh of electricity a day, which equals the power supply needed for 7.4 million people.

In addition to domestic businesses, China’s green development pledge has been warmly welcomed by international players as well. Singaporean company ST Engineering, for example, has set up a pneumatic waste collection system for recyclables, non-recyclables, and food waste in Tianjin, which is capable of processing waste from 15,000 people, the company told People’s Daily.

German powerhouse Siemens also announced on the sideline the world’s first implementation of its most advanced city air management cloud-based software in southern China’s Guangdong’s Guangzhou. The software can capture real-time pollution data and forecast emissions up to five days in advance.

The German company signed a memorandum of understanding with Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, one of the new industrial upgrading experiments in Guangzhou, which will house some 500,000 people over the next 15 to 20 years for knowledge-based industries such as AI, biotechnology, and new energy.

According to Klaus Heidinger, head of city IT solutions at the Global Center of Competence Cities in Siemens, the platform will be able to analyze available air quality data to forecast weather and air quality. On top of air quality monitoring, which is already in place in many Chinese cities, the company’s software will provide solutions for decision-makers to help with urban management. The simulated solutions will mark out how each implemented plan, including free access to public transportation, can help improve air quality.

In an interview after the signing ceremony, Nina Yang, a chief executive officer with Ascendas-Singbridge, a joint establisher of Guangzhou Knowledge City, called the new city a leading model in smart and green technologies, and a strategic platform for companies such as Siemens to showcase new solutions while serving as an example of industrial upgrade.

“I’m glad we found an innovative city that was first to tackle air pollution through collaboration with us. I can say Europe learns from China. I hope this can be the place where many mayors will come and see how we solve the problem,” Heidinger said.