Beijing plans to convert 40% of its rubbish into energy via incineration, as part of plans to develop new power sources and deal with landfill problems, state press said May 21.
Four incinerators to be built in the capital will have the capacity to burn up to 5,000 tons of garbage daily when completed in five years, the Beijing News reported. The four new plants will have the capacity to generate 1,500 megawatts of electricity, about the energy equivalent of a modest-sized nuclear power plant.
The plan was tabled at an ongoing meeting of the city's Communist Party and comes as the capital is running out of areas to bury garbage with existing landfills reaching capacity.
In five years, 40% of the capital's garbage will be burned, 30% buried and the rest will be treated and used to make fertilizer or other renewable products, it said. Currently the city buries about 90% of its garbage in landfills, it said.
The garbage burners will also be equipped with clean technology to ensure that emissions meet state requirements, the paper added.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
