China needs waste to ensure the country’s energy supply. Now, China is lacking waste because the gigantic incineration plants are running empty. Now, even waste is being dug up from the ground.
What exactly is happening in China? In recent years, the demand for waste in China has increased so massively that there are plans to literally dig waste out of landfills.
The People’s Republic has massively invested in so-called waste-to-energy plants, which are incineration plants that also generate electricity. China’s waste incineration sector represents over half of the world’s waste-to-energy capacity.
On January 1, 2020, the Ministry even launched a national online platform that provides the public with real-time emission data from waste incineration plants – such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide levels. As a result, waste incineration has been established as a central disposal method and has been massively expanded across the country (via Sixth Tone).
According to a report by the Financial Times, the capacity of Chinese waste incineration now exceeds one million tons per day. This even surpasses the targets of the current five-year plan.
Nevertheless, the plants are reportedly operating below their actual capacity, as the fuel is simply lacking. The incineration plants are currently running at only about 60 %, while 40 % of the potential capacity remains virtually unused (via GlobalTimes).
By comparison: In Germany, there are currently 66 waste incineration plants with a total capacity of about 20.6 million tons annually. According to NABU, the largest plant in Germany, with a capacity of 780,000 tons, is the municipal waste incineration plant in Cologne.
Less waste means less energy
Why is there too little waste and how is it being addressed? It actually sounds like good news: China is producing less household waste. Thanks to better waste separation, recycling, a declining population, and changing consumption patterns, significantly less residual waste is being generated today.
However, what is a success for environmental authorities and the environment itself is becoming a problem for the operators of the high-tech incineration plants (via Xataka).
Due to the lack of waste, many are responding with an unusual measure. According to local media reports referenced by the Financial Times, in some regions, landfills are being excavated to keep the plants running. This approach is known as “landfill mining” and typically refers to the orderly deconstruction of landfills to recover usable raw materials from waste (via Financial Times).
In some cases, operators even pay to obtain waste. This leads to a paradoxical situation: While other countries want to empty their landfills, Chinese companies are actively working to dig up old waste to feed the technology.
What does this mean for the environment? From an ecological perspective, the development is clearly positive. Less waste is fundamentally positive from an ecological standpoint. Moreover, it is expected that emission values and air pollution will decrease as a result (via Sixth Tone).
The Financial Times points out that some municipalities and incineration plants have already begun to mix in other sources of waste, such as construction or industrial waste.
Not only in China are old landfills being excavated again. A Brit has been searching for years at a landfill for a hard drive that could make him a millionaire. Now he gets a new chance to actually find it: An IT engineer accidentally lost a fortune of 752 million euros at a landfill years ago. Since then, he has been desperately trying to recover his fortune.
