China – waste management in China: issues and recommendations

No country has ever experienced as large or as fast an increase in solid waste quantities that China is now facing. China recently surpassed the United States as the world‘‘s largest municipal solid waste (MSW) generator. A study from the World Bank puts this major global power‘‘s waste management system under the microscope.



In 2004 the urban areas of China generated about 190,000,000 tons of MSW and by 2030 this amount is projected to be at least 480,000,000 tons. Management of this waste has enormous domestic and international implications. This report presents waste quantity estimates, that are considered to be sufficiently credible for national planning and resource allocation purposes.



This 2005 report intends to contribute to the municipal solid waste dialogue in China. Based on current solid waste plans, China could face an 8-fold increase in its countrywide waste management budget between now and 2020 (rising from today‘‘s estimate of 30 Billion RMB to about 230 billion RMB). The need for increased budgets will be most severe in smaller cities (those under 1,000,000 people).



Significant improvements have been made in the waste management sector over the last ten years. For example, most larger cities are aggressively moving towards sanitary landfilling as their main disposal option. Improved landfill operations and increased availability is likely China‘‘s most pressing waste management need. Even though the pace of China‘‘s solid waste improvement is significant, China has been unable to keep up with the growing demand for waste service coverage, environmental requirements for safe disposal systems, and rationalization of cost-effectiveness in service delivery.



China‘‘s waste management practices now have global impacts. For example, secondary materials prices in the U.S. are now influenced by China‘‘s demand for these materials. The MOC‘‘s goal of increasing the rate of waste incineration to 30% (up from the current 1%) would likely at least double the global ambient levels of dioxin.



This report identifies critical solid waste management issues for China:





Waste Quantities: unsurpassed rate of growth in waste generation, dramatically changing composition, and minimal waste reduction efforts

Information Availability: lack of reliable and consistent waste quantity and cost data makes planning for waste management strategies extremely difficult

Decision-Making Process: lack of consistent policy and strategic planning toward technology selection, private sector involvement, cost recovery, inadequate public access and participation in the planning process

Operations: facilities do not always meet design standards, particularly in pollution control, and facility operations are deficient, waste collection operations are often not rationalized

Financing: inadequate cost recovery through user charges and tipping fees

Institutional Arrangements: inadequate decentralization of collection and transfer services, inadequate municipal capacity for technology planning and private sector involvement, and inadequate clarity on mandates between government agencies, e.g. MOC and SEPA, and inadequate delineation between central and local government responsibilities

Private sector involvement: The government‘‘s goal of increased private sector participation in solid waste services is hindered by unclear and inconsistent ‘‘rules of engagement‘‘, non-transparent purchase practices, non-sustainable subsidies, inadequate municipal cash flows, unclear and inconsistent cost accounting practices, and an unclear regulatory framework

Carbon financing: Increasing in importance in the Chinese MSW sector. China‘‘s cities could generate as much as $ 1 Billion per year from sale of carbon emissions reductions, resulting from