Society

Fired-up foes battle garbage burner plan

By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-15 07:06

GUANGZHOU - Residents of the Panyu district of Guangdong province's capital city are taking their fight against a proposed garbage incinerator onto the Internet.

Workers pack trash at a garbage transfer station in the town of Shawan in Guangzhou's Panyu district on Tuesday. The district government listed Shawan on Tuesday as a possible location for a garbage incinerator. Provided to China Daily

The residents are calling on opponents of the planned project to register their objections online after the local government announced on Tuesday that five venues within the Guangzhou district were being considered for the controversial burner.

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The authorities have promised that the facility will meet the State's environmental protection requirements but many residents have said they are still worried it will pollute their environment and harm their health.

"Burning garbage will generate dioxins, which will certainly affect our health and even cause cancer," said a resident surnamed Hong from Panyu's Shawan town, which is one of the five possible locations.

Li Guangqi from Riverside Garden, a residential community near one of the possible locations, said people living there should resoundingly oppose it.

"I hope all the residents in my community will join hands and vote online in opposition to this project ending up near our homes," Li said.

Residents in other communities in each of the five proposed areas have also been mobilizing supporters and publishing notes on online forums that urge their neighbors to actively vote against local construction.

Panyu district government announced on Tuesday that the five potential construction sites are slated for the district's towns of Dashi, Shawan, Dongchong, Lanhe and Dagang.

The local government said that a site will be selected from the shortlist of five locations based on netizens' online votes and experts' appraisals and advised that construction will start in the second half of the year. The project is scheduled to be completed and start operation in 2014.

At present, more than 2,300 tons of household waste is produced every day in Panyu but the district is only geared up to dispose of 1,700 tons.

In 2009, Guangzhou city government planned to build a garbage incinerator in Panyu but it ended up shelving that project because of strong objections from residents.

The project has also sparked controversy among environmental experts.

Zhao Zhangyuan, a researcher from the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, said incineration can certainly cause pollution.

"Burning garbage produces many poisonous gases, even when advanced technology and equipment is used," Zhao was quoted by local media as saying.

Zhao, a prominent figure in the fight against burning garbage in China, disputed claims that garbage incinerators are safe if they are built more than 1.5 kilometers away from homes.

But Xu Haiyun, chief engineer with the China Urban Construction Design and Research Institute, said garbage incinerators will not harm people's health because they will only discharge gases strictly in line with the State's standards.

"A garbage incinerator was built in the downtown area in Bonn, Germany, and similar facilities have been constructed near homes in Japan," Xu said.

Guangzhou is currently dealing with more than 12,000 tons of household waste every day. Most of it is either burned, buried or composted.