OPINION> Commentary
Recycle waste for rebuilding
By Sun Xiaohua (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-27 07:40

To foreign environmental experts, the recycling of the mountains of rubble left by the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province for the reconstruction can spawn a new industry that can help speed up the recovery of the local economy.

The magnitude-8.0 earthquake that rocked Sichuan province with its epicenter in Wenchuan county a month ago left more than 46 million people homeless, official figures released on Tuesday showed. More than 7.78 million houses collapsed and 24.59 million houses were demolished.

"We did a very quick calculation based on the number of buildings, 100 million tons of rubble was made by the quake," said David A. Arthur, an environmental consultant among a team of experts invited to China by the World Bank to offer advice on the reconstruction of the quake-stricken region.

"This is a huge issue. What are you going to do with huge materials?" he raised the question. "If we do not recycle the construction waste, where can we get the huge amount of materials for building houses for tens of millions of victims."

As Arthur advised, at least 1,000 people should be organized to clear debris from the areas in quake-hit provinces, searching for construction materials like bricks, timber, which can be recycled.

Some fallen trees can also be used, he said. More than 100 carpentry workshops can be set up to make furniture for the afflicted people who have nothing for a living after the quake.

"Local residents can also learn the skill not just for reconstruction, but also for making a living afterward," he said.

The State Forestry Administration figures last week showed that more than 430,000 hectares of trees had been crushed by land and mud slides triggered by the earthquake and the aftershocks.

In fact, recycling construction wastes has already been practiced in some of quake-hit areas. China Central Television reported on Monday that in a town in Dujiangyan, one of the worst hit places in the quake zone, about 80 percent of houses were rebuilt from debris by afflicted people who were eager to have their homes back.

Arthur runs an environmental resources management office in China. As part of a worldwide company, his team has rich experiences in reconstruction after natural calamity, including helping Indonesian people to build their homes after the tsunami in 2004.

After the tsunami, when they started the reconstruction process, they faced the same problem as Sichuan - huge amounts of debris to clear up, he said.

They quickly constructed their new homes, based on waste management recycling.

"After a natural catastrophe, the humanitarian response is strong. People are very keen to help," he said. "The focus is to get these people's living conditions back. How to incorporate environment into the humanitarian response should be part of the roadmap for rebuilding."

Arthur said that the environment concern is very low on the reconstruction agenda but it will be a huge problem in the future.

Sichuan people need a "build-back-better" design, which includes not just resistance to earthquakes, but also energy efficiency.

"Energy efficiency will be a focus in the next 10 years, as the government has already paid attention to raising the energy requirement in the building code," he said. "The earthquake provides the Sichuan people with an opportunity to catch up with the trend."

Another expert, Richard Andrews, consultant to the World Bank on emergency management and disaster mitigation, said during reconstruction, people should pay attention to the non-structural elements, like interior decoration.

Take schools for example. During an earthquake, even if the building is strong enough to keep standing, falling bookcases and broken windows can also result in injuries to children.

"Usually, the building designer, builder and interior decorator are not on the same page," Andrews said.

They need a uniform code, he said. And a much more integral process is necessary in Sichuan's reconstruction.

(China Daily 06/27/2008 page9)