A multi-stage plan to manage all forms of household, industrial, and any other waste is to go into full force through the city of Zhuhai by the end of 2020. Under it, waste products must be separated and monitored at the source, safely transported to new or expanded environmentally friendly disposal sites, and legally recycled if appropriate.

The Environmental Protection Bureau released its three-year (2018-20) action plan to prevent and curb solid waste pollution on July 19. The full-coverage solid waste reutilization and hazard-free treatment system will be severely monitored and enforced.

Specifically, by 2020 the safe disposal rates of industrial hazardous and medical waste will exceed 99 percent, and the harmless disposal rate of sludge produced by municipal sewage treatment plants will surpass 90 percent. All urban garbage will be harmlessly treated and more than 95 percent of rural refuse will be dealt with efficiently.

Green spaces for rest and recreation

Compulsory garbage classification will be fully implemented by 2020. Household trash will have to be put into distinct containers to be collected, transported, and disposed of separately.

There will be a regional network recording the collection, transfer, and storage of household and public hazardous waste. Special attention will be paid to the collection and disposal of lead-acid batteries, fluorescent tubes, insecticides and their packaging, mineral oils, and laboratory waste.

Zhuhai Opera House in the distance

The plan states that units where solid waste is generated will be liable for prevention and pollution. They must have or construct waste storage facilities that meet the standards of well-established internal management systems.

Producers of industrial solid waste must be registered online, reporting the types, amounts, flow directions, and storage and disposal provisions of solid waste. Industrial hazardous waste production units must build adequate temporary storage sites. They can either self-dispose of the waste with their own facilities or contract qualified businesses to do so.

The government will also tighten oversight and controls on the transportation of hazardous waste, urging location-tracking of the whole process. The monitored data should comply with submitted digital documents.

In addition, household waste incineration enterprises are required to install automatic pollutant discharge monitoring equipment connected with local environmental protection departments. Electronic displays should be set up at the gates of factories to announce real-time data of pollutant discharge and incinerator operations.

Zhuhai is also cracking down on the movement of hazardous wastes across jurisdictions.

Sea & Sky (Haitian) Park [Photos courtesy Zhuhai Daily]