Solid Waste Disposal in China-Situation, Problems and Suggestions

This paper investigates the current situation of municipal and industrial solid waste disposal in China. Recent Chinese literature about solid waste disposal in China has been reviewed and data analysed on the total amount of solid wastes generated and compositional variations over the last ten years in the city of Wuhan. The results show a rapid increase in the total amount of municipal solid wastes and significant composition changes. These are related to the increased population in China and the enhanced living standards in the last years. In Wuhan City, for example, the total amount of municipal solid wastes increased from 1.19 million tonnes in 1985 to 1.50 million tonnes in 1993, and is estimated to reach 2 million tonnes in 2000. Until now large amounts of municipal solid wastes in many cities in China were transported to the suburban districts and dumped into the low-lying land directly without any controlled disposal. The total amount of industrial solid waste in China was about 580 million tonnes in 1990. Until 1990, about 6.5 billion tonnes industrial waste was stockpiled in China, occupying an area of 58 692 hectares, of which 4060 hectares is potential farming land. The total amount of industrial solid waste in Wuhan was 5.6 million tonnes in 1992, in which 5.0 million tonnes was recycled, 30 000 tonnes was treated physically or chemically and finally disposed, 0.31 million tonnes was deposited near the plant, and 0.26 million tonnes was discharged into rivers, lakes and seas. Although the rate of recycling is very high (89%), this is mainly due to the re-use of some kinds of wastes like fly-ash, slag, coal spoil. The amount of the stockpiled and discharged wastes, especially hazardous wastes which cause considerable pollution in China, is still very large. To overcome existing solid waste management problems in China, some measures are suggested in this paper. © 1997 ISWA