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China Environmental Export Market Plan
Chapter 5 - The Solid Waste Sector
Chapter 5 - The Solid Waste Sector

In general, Chinese municipal solid waste collection systems, although somewhat obsolete, are reliable and maintain a consistent level of sanitation. In contrast, transfer and disposal systems are inefficient and of poor quality, endanger public health, contaminate groundwater, and consume already scarce amounts of arable land.

Due to a combination of scarce funds, inadequate infrastructure, poor enforcement of disposal and treatment standards, a lack of skilled waste facility operators, and the inability of local companies to produce modern waste management equipment, the explosive growth of solid waste produced annually in China threatens to overwhelm the infrastructure and become a severe economic and environmental burden.

By the end of 1999, Chinese cities produced 940 pounds of trash per person annually, with that rate increasing by 8Ð10 percent each year. Disposal methods are so inadequate that over 200 of more than 650 cities surveyed are surrounded by hills of waste. As of August 1999, more than 6 billion tons of municipal refuse had accumulated and claimed 5.4 billion square feet of land in China.

Over half of the municipal solid waste in China is composed of organic content such as food wastes, and plastics and polystyrene compose the majority of the bulk, as most metals and other resalable materials are scavenged.

China generated between 600 and 750 million tons of industrial solid waste in 1999. Hazardous waste statistics vary wildly, but estimates range between 5 and 30 million tons annually, much of which goes untreated. Hazardous wastes are often incinerated and disposed of improperly and are frequently mixed in with non-hazardous waste in landfills and dumps. China hopes to improve its management of hazardous wastes by developing facilities, training workers, increasing awareness, and at some point implementing international hazardous waste standards.

Waste Management Legislation and Policy Priorities

Fundamental waste management legislation in the PRC consists primarily of the 1996 Solid Waste Management Law, pre-1996 municipal waste regulations, and the 1997 Hazardous Waste Management Regulations.

The responsibility for municipal solid waste collection and disposal rests primarily with municipal and district governments (districts are semi-autonomous subunits of a city). Municipal solid waste management administrators, refuse collectors, street sweepers, and refuse transportation and disposal personnel are all government employees.

Municipal solid waste management is funded directly by the municipal government. A uniform tariff on waste collection and treatment has yet to be established, but in some cities residents are charged a fraction of a percentage of their monthly income for this service. Waste collection fees cover only a portion of the cost of managing the waste. Commercial waste is managed in conjunction with residential waste, while industrial waste is supposed to be managed separately by the industry that generates it.

Several entities at the municipal level are responsible for solid waste treatment. These include municipal sanitation bureaus, EPBs, municipal construction bureaus, and municipal planning and development bureaus.

The municipal sanitation bureaus are responsible for daily waste collection, transportation, and centralized garbage treatment including landfills and incineration plants. These bureaus control solid waste collection, transfer, and treatment technologies and equipment. The municipal EPBs are responsible for the issuing of local solid waste control regulations, compliance monitoring, and enforcement. Municipal construction bureaus plan and manage construction projects including the establishment of landfills and incineration plants. The municipal planning and development bureaus coordinate, evaluate, and approve solid waste treatment projects.

Government Priorities and Trends

Since the second half of 1999, 10 cities and provinces have initiated tariff systems for waste disposal, among them Beijing, Chengdu (Sichuan Province), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province), Shenyang (Liaoning Province), and Zhuhai (Guangdong Province). In Beijing, for example, households with permanent residents must pay RMB 3 ($0.36) monthly, and households with non-permanent residents RMB 2 ($0.24) monthly.

The national government has also expressed support for the "polluter pays" scheme used in most developed countries. In line with this, China plans to levy an industrial solid waste generation and disposal fee on plants and enterprises and an urban domestic refuse treatment fee on citizens. These fees will be used to finance solid waste infrastructure. However, for the next few years, funding for waste projects will remain unavailable except through multilateral or bilateral agencies, as heavy priority is being placed on water and air pollution projects.

The use of market-based instruments has not been sufficiently developed to make public utilities projects such as waste management economically feasible for municipalities or attractive for private investment. Thus, the domestic prioritization of air and water management has left local governments in perpetual search of foreign funding in order to meet their waste management needs. Until such measures as fee-based waste disposal become profitable, there will be little market for high-technology goods except through international projects, innovative schemes formulated by equipment suppliers, and possibly technology and financing consortia.

Although private investment remains unattractive into the near future, timely market positioning is key. Precisely because waste management services in China have not yet become mainstream, now may be the best time to begin a market positioning strategy. After this sector begins to become profitable, those companies that have been nudging the doors open for several years are likely to reap the greatest benefits, provided they have ample funding to wait out the market developments. This will certainly require active and persistent effort.

Waste Reduction and Recycling

As is the case in many developing countries, China's best hopes for environmentally friendly and practical solutions to its immense waste management concerns lie largely in the reduction of waste. There is much discussion now of sustainable development through an integrated approach to waste management, including minimization of the production of wastes and maximization of waste recycling and reuse. Throughout China, cities have been formally practicing source separation and recycling for the past 10 years, and informally for a much longer period.

With the exception of large cities, municipally-funded recycling systems are limited in most Chinese locales. Typically, however, the percentage of recyclable waste is lower than in developed cities of analogous size, due to lower consumption rates and a brisk trade in reusable and recyclable materials.

Recyclable items are bought and sold in the streets of China. Refuse collection containers, drop-off points, and landfills are continuously scavenged for recyclables. Middlemen purchase recyclable items based on an established market value, then in turn sell the items to additional middlemen who deal in specific classes of items, such as glass. End buyers include recycling facilities and factories that can use the recyclables directly.

China is also experiencing an upsurge in waste imports for recycling from other countries, including waste paper and scrap metals. However, recognizing that these imports are relatively expensive and often contaminated, policy-makers are determining that it would be more cost-effective and safer to recover domestic materials. Regardless, the recovery industry will soon be expected to cope with significant increases in recyclable materials; it may not be capable of decontaminating or reprocessing those materials due to a lack of capacity and possibly saturated markets.
Table 5.1 Solid Waste ManagementÐRelated U.S. Exports to China (thousands of U.S. dollars)
HTS Number
HTS Description
As of April 2001
2000
1999
84178Waste incinerators766.23,322.9827.8
84179Parts for 841781,459.314,155.47,317.4
842220Machinery for cleaning and drying bottles and containers70.1410.41,372.2
846291Shredders, balers for metals, hydraulic presses69.4375.9231.0
847290Paper shredders624.34,570.04,155.7
84741Waste foundry sand reclamation equipment1,225.71,530.81,694.9
847432Asphalt-recycling equipment0.070.02,240.9
847989Radioactive waste presses, trash compactors29,864.419,6572.2112,721.1
84799Parts for 84798912,550.548,727.94,0740.1
85059Electromagnets247.5899.2894.7
851410Electric or resistance-heated waste incinerators or other waste treatment appliances1,584.94,104.74,689.0
851420Electric, induction, or dielectric waste incinerators or other waste treatment appliances8.4810.1330.3
851430Electric, other waste incinerator or other waste treatment appliances9,484.624,095.34,913.6
851490Parts of waste incinerators3,141.26,330.010,815.9
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, USITC Trade Database.

Municipally-Sponsored Recovery

Waste recovery and recycling procedures are administratively supervised in both private and state-owned enterprises. Many major cities have large recovery companies that collect recyclables from offices, institutions, and factories. Neighborhood deposit/trade centers are often located at transfer stations, where people can sell recyclable bottles, paper, and clothes. State policies govern the trading of materials and prices, and these companies are often inefficient.

Private enterprises, of which there are thousands, also participate in recycling, mostly in the southeastern provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang. In the past few decades, there has been a shift to trading in mainly profitable recyclables, such as metals, rather than in most household wastes. Other materials are now collected and traded by private entrepreneurs, who may sell either to the government companies or directly to factories for reuse.

The government encourages recycling but has not yet generated the momentum that could arise through awareness and a well-developed market. Tax incentives have been implemented to support enterprises engaged in recycling, and greater emphasis on source separation is considered desirable, particularly the separation of plastics from organic material, in order to make both composting and incineration of residuals more viable.

Best Sales Prospects

Battery Recycling. Management of products such as glass, paper, cardboard, drums, containers, and so forth is adequate, but there is a complete lack of know-how regarding battery recycling and that of other hazardous commodities. Chinese cities have launched battery-recycling programs and have collected millions of disposable batteries. However, there is no feasible recycling or disposal program for those batteries, which usually end up buried in disposal sites in order to limit the area of contamination. Since the most common batteries in China are still mercury-lead, the challenge and need for recycling is significant.

Metals and Components. Recycling, compared with other waste management sectors, generates a quicker return on investments. However, as in developed countries, the truly profitable recycling enterprises are those such as metals and electronic components recycling. Larger recycling facilities with more financial resources may be able to purchase foreign equipment or form JVs to take full advantage of this, and larger manufacturers with the requisite financial resources may be able to establish in-house facilities to do so. Smaller enterprises and municipal recycling facilities might not be able to do this, and may have no choice but to rely on local equipment manufacturers to outfit their facilities due to both local protectionism and a lack of funds.

Materials Recovery. According to one multinational health, safety, and environment specialist, a considerable amount of reasonably useful industrial waste material is stockpiled throughout the country, and is neither moved nor disposed of. Companies do not wish to write these resources off, as this reduces earnings, but there is currently no opportunity or push to reuse the material or search out secondary markets. This may change as dumping regulations and fees become more stringent and enforcement is improved.

The recycling and materials recovery industry is one area that the Chinese government intends to foster. China has traditionally been successful with this concept despite the fact that the proliferation of plastics and polystyrene has done marked damage to the pre-1970s mentality of reuse. Nonetheless, due to funding problems and materials costs, China is always open to new methods of recycling that help achieve profitability or reduce costs.

Collection and Transfer Equipment

The process of waste collection in China's large cities is generally effective. In contrast, however, due to outdated equipment and a scarcity of vehicles, waste transfer processes are poor and inefficient. Almost 10 million tons of urban domestic waste annually does not reach a waste disposal site.

Urban waste is collected on a daily or twice-daily basis in China. The most common refuse collection systems in urban China are central drop-off spots in each neighborhood, often located at street corners. Adrop-off spot may be as simple as a designated spot to pile garbage or as advanced as a transfer station. Residents either deliver their garbage to a drop-off spot or deposit it in a garbage chute, from which maintenance staff collect the refuse and deliver it to a transfer station.

Outside of urban centers, there is little controlled refuse collection, but there is a higher tendency to reuse and recycle materials prior to disposing of them. Unfortunately, particularly at the village level, refuse accumulates on any unused piece of land and often ends up in water sources.

Locally-produced solid waste containers are generally of poor quality, and because they are uncovered and of low-grade materials, they must be replaced every six months to one year. Recently, municipalities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, with an eye to saving money, have begun investing in higher-quality containers with longer life spans.

Transfer and Treatment

Currently, all collection devices and locations, including three-wheeled bikes, trucks, and buildings, are owned by municipalities. The vehicle fleets are generally outdated and of insufficient size and capacity. Most collection vehicles are open, converted dump trucks that do not adequately contain waste. Authorities would like to upgrade and enlarge these fleets, but generally speaking there are no funds available for this. Until waste management fees are implemented profitably, this sector will remain unappealing to foreign investment outside of internationally-funded projects and direct aid.

Other important areas are pre-treatment and waste processing. Before delivery to an incinerator or landfill, waste in most industrialized countries is sorted by type and then treated in order to maximize disposal efficiency. Most sorting in China today is performed at the disposal site by scavengers and workers, with little pretreatment, making disposal not only inefficient but also hazardous.

Street Sweeping

Most Chinese cities provide street-sweeping services on a daily basis, using everything from bamboo brooms to mechanized sweepers. Japanese companies that have been aggressively courting the waste industry for years dominate the market for equipment.

However, the process of sweeping is hampered by inefficiency. Since the minimum-sized street sweeper must fit through the narrow alleyways that line the traditional housing complexes of Chinese cities, municipalities often purchase many street sweepers of just that size. A sound market-entry strategy might make use of a convincing argument to persuade decision-makers to purchase street-sweeping equipment in a variety of sizes and types in order to increase efficiency in cleaning up urban highways and construction sites. Market potential exists for a U.S. company that can demonstrate the efficacy of such a strategy and then provide the most cost-effective fleet of equipment to implement the strategy.

In reality, refuse collection does not appear to present a whole host of opportunities for the near future, primarily due to a lack of funding and interest. One area of improvement may be in large-scale transfer stations capable of pre-sorting and some initial treatment; local governments have demonstrated some interest here. Street-sweeping and other service equipment sales may prove profitable if prospective exporters invest adequate time and resources in their market studies.

Management Strategies

Composting

Many cities in China have established simple in-vessel composting systems to process municipal solid waste. Mixed municipal solid waste is delivered to the facilities, and following hand sorting, the material is fed into digesters. After digestion, the compost is either sold as is or with the addition of supplemental chemical fertilizers.

Overall, composting treats a very small percentage of the total municipal solid waste generated in China. Composting systems were initially set up to process municipal solid waste into compost and sell the compost at a profit. Experience in China has shown, however, that the value of the compost is less than the cost of producing it. Additionally, systems are plagued with operating problems and do not generally meet their processing objectives. As a result, the majority of composting facilities have shut down, and cities that were previously composting municipal solid waste have reverted to uncontrolled land filling.

At present, composting seems to have fallen by the wayside. China's cities would profit, however, if they were to reinvestigate possibilities for regional or community composting facilities. China's solid waste, compared with that of developed countries, is high in food and organic waste content. This makes both land filling and incineration less efficient because of compaction problems and low BTU value. Add to this China's lack of arable land and land management problems in general, and composting begins to appear a promising alternative. Given the government's emphasis on incineration techniques, some pre-sorting of waste into organics and burnable materials would prove rewarding.

Until the technical expertise and investment necessary to demonstrate that composting may be profitable is introduced, authorities will continue to focus on expanding and improving incineration and landfill capacities.

Incineration

In addition to strengthening the recycling industry, the construction of incineration facilities and landfills represents further priorities for Chinese authorities within the waste management sector.

While presented as a panacea for the waste management problem, incineration remains a controversial subject in China. Among the various methods of dealing with municipal solid waste, the Chinese show great interest in expanding their incineration capacity despite the fact that the capital and operating requirements for such plants often surpass those for landfills. There have been several arguments raised against incineration (presenting integrated solid waste management as the alternative) for reasons such as the exacerbation of already critical air pollution and a lack of capacity for burning toxic wastes. Additionally, China has in the past been extremely successful in separating out paper, glass, and other recyclables from the stream of municipal solid waste so that the remaining waste, which may be more than 50 percent organic matter, is not highly combustible. Nonetheless, China insists on developing "cutting-edge technology," in the words of one sector specialist. Incineration is looked on favorably by many cities due to the small land requirement and the supposed potential for electricity generation.

Currently, incineration treats only 1 percent of municipal solid waste in China, although industries generally maintain their own incineration systems for in-house processing of wastes. There are only three types of incineration systems used: the most common is the smaller, often manually loaded, incinerator employed by industries, with no environmental protection controls in place (some efforts at cleaning these up are underway). The second is the municipal waste treatment incinerator, of which there are only a few through-out the entire country. Finally, China is experiencing an explosion in waste-to-energy plants. It should be noted that, despite the above distinctions, incineration has a very broad definition in China and may include the open burning of mixed wastes.

Since 1987, Shenzhen has operated a 300-to-450-ton-per-day incinerator for hazardous and medical wastes. However, data as to its effectiveness, costs, and hazards is not available. In January 2001, the first Chinese-made hazardous and industrial waste-to-energy incinerator opened in Wenzhou, with a capacity of 320 tons per day. One large-scale municipal solid waste incinerator in Shanghai was under construction at the time of writing and should be completed by 2002: its expected operating capacity is 1,000Ð1,500 tons per day (tpd). Guangzhou plans to build two waste-to-energy plants by 2005 that will convert half of the city's trash to electricity. Several small-scale incinerators are in the five-year pipeline. The coastal city of Tianjin has announced an agreement with France to build a 30-tpd hazardous waste incinerator, and Wuhan plans to build three 40-tpd hazardous waste plants using Swiss loans.

Emissions and Ash Management

The country bearing the distinguished reputation of having the world's worst air pollution has good reason to express concern over the implementation of incineration methods to treat solid and hazardous waste. Yet China tends to look to Japan, which incinerates the vast majority of its waste due to limited land resources, as a model for solving its domestic waste problems. China, however, has neither the funds nor the skills to implement Japanese processes with adequate control and precision and therefore risks further contamination of its air, land, and water.

In an apparent contradiction, China seems intent on both reducing air pollution from its coal-burning industries and increasing its incineration capacity, which if poorly implemented will exacerbate air pollution issues. If this strategy is pursued, China will increasingly require methods of emissions reduction and ash management within the incineration industry that conform to the strictest standards. Incentive to do so may develop from the progress that has been made in expanding ash management abilities to facilitate the use of the ash for road building and other construction initiatives.

Worst Sales Prospects

Large-Scale Incineration Technologies. Unfortunately, without the benefit of tied aid, U.S. companies often find the incinerator market saturated with cheap Chinese incineration materials and foreign-funded equipment financed by tied aid programs.

Best Sales Prospects

Monitoring Equipment. U.S. companies are well positioned to provide monitoring equipment and instrumentation, and this market continues to grow in China.

Ash Management and Emissions Technologies.
Companies that provide technologies to capture ash, treat contaminated ash, and render the ash useful to other industries are sought after. Authorities within the transport and road-building industry and the recycling industry are pursuing incinerator-ash-use techniques.

Management and Consulting Services. Operating skills and training are required if China intends to keep incineration facilities safe. As in the wastewater treatment industry, many facilities deteriorate due to poor maintenance or lack of qualified staff. Opportunities exist through multilateral and some governmental projects for capacity building in these areas. Due to a lack of tied aid from the United States, American companies in the incineration sector may have to content themselves with the provision of smaller technologies associated with that sector. Large projects facilitated through multilateral financing may present an area of opportunity, although the World Bank and other funding sources appear to be concentrating on landfills at present.

Landfills

Land filling is the most common municipal solid waste management method used in China, and landfills are the final resting place of over 99 percent of all municipal solid waste. In general, Chinese landfills do not meet best practices from either a design or a management perspective. Although there is some dissemination of the available literature on land filling and a variety of regulations and standards, modern landfills suffer after the design phase from a lack of construction knowledge and implementation control. According to the World Bank, of all waste management facilities possible, China would profit most sustainably from the development of modern sanitary landfills.

Landfills fall into two categories in China. The most prevalent type is the "controlled dump site." These landfills allow scavengers on-site, have no leachate collection systems, employ infrequent or no cover systems, have limited or no compaction, have no gas control systems, keep few or no records, and have no waste-screening systems in place. It is not at all uncommon for untreated hazardous and medical wastes to be mixed in with municipal solid waste and industrial refuse.

The second and far less common type consists of those landfills currently built near a number of urban centers according to more modern land-filling standards, and facilitated by outside financing and design. Although efforts are made to design and build these in line with high standards, it is still unclear how well they are operated.

Worst Sales Prospects

Because most waste projects in China are at least partially funded by multi- or bilateral sources, several factors affect the viability of landfill equipment sales. The following are examples of products that typically have no market access in China.

Compactors and Compacting Equipment. Steel-wheeled and other advanced compactors are rarely used in developing countries because of their prohibitive cost. Instead, cheap Chinese bulldozers perform compacting, sloping, and other functions. In addition, the high organic content of most Chinese solid waste makes compacting less effective, and the intense rains in some regions of China turn the waste into muck that traps compactors for the duration of the rainy season.

Liner Materials. As in most developing countries, liner materials are cheap and locally made. Clay liners, for example, are inexpensive and function relatively well if managed properly. Some of the multilateral landfill projects utilize foreign liners, but manufacturers prospecting in China are limited to such projects.

Leachate Collection Materials. Expensive leachate management technologies find no place in China's landfills. Typically, the most efficient method used is to collect leachate in concrete-lined holding ponds in order to evaporate as much as possible or to dilute it during rainy times. Some wastewater management techniques have been adapted to this function.

Best Sales Prospects

Monitoring Equipment. The United States excels in the production of cost-effective and reliable monitoring equipment. Equipment is required for gas, leachate, and groundwater contaminant measurements in order to enforce new regulations.

Management Technologies. Often, a landfill is constructed with a modern and effective design but then left to "run itself," without proper supervision and controls in place. Corresponding to needs in the wastewater treatment industry, there is a need in the solid waste industry for landfill maintenance and operational know-how. A company with an innovative and cost-effective turnkey solution to landfill design and management that can be adapted to the various regions of China may be suited to market entry.

Technology to Improve Existing Landfills. Landfill managers in smaller cities are often told to close open-area dumps and to construct controlled landfills. However, due to costs and lack of expertise, the dumps are more likely to be converted simply to conform to regulations. Hence, there is a need for firms that are equipped to provide low-cost equipment and expertise to enable this conversion under a variety of conditions.

U.S. companies find it difficult to advance in China's solid waste sector for several reasons. First, the U.S. provides extremely limited development aid to China; hence, large landfill projects go to foreign competitors backed by bilateral programs. Second, the U.S. lags behind most developed countries in maintaining efficient and cost-effective landfill operations. Third, many U.S. companies suffer from an attitude of "watch and wait" as opposed to early market entry, which will render them uncompetitive at a later stage of market development.

Besides monitoring equipment and engineering expertise, U.S. vendors must present a unique and innovative land-filling solution particular to ChinaÕs various problems, in order to have an impact on the landfill sector in the near future. The most promising areas of opportunity include multilaterally-financed projects and services such as consulting for the upgrading of landfills to conform to new regulations.

U.S. Strengths and Opportunities

"Complete Package" Solutions

Within all sectors related to solid waste management, there is a tremendous need for engineering expertise, from financing and site selection to design, construction, and maintenance of facilities. Concepts that parallel innovations in the wastewater treatment industry, such as the BOT model, are even more valuable as waste management gradually becomes profitable. The Chinese eagerly seek solutions to their waste problems, and a company that is willing to provide experience and expertise in this area will discover a variety of interested parties, from municipalities to state-owned and private enterprises coping with their own waste concerns.

Lack of funding and a lack of local knowledge in the waste disposal area mean that, as national government regulations tighten, every sector of society that produces solid waste feels pressure to manage waste in a well-planned and cost-effective manner. Some funding is available from multilateral and bilateral sources, as well as from various levels of Chinese government. As the waste problem intensifies, individual entities are increasingly forced to seek out financing schemes that make waste management possible and profitable.

Knowledge Transfer and Training

Current facilities and ongoing projects already suffer from a lack of operational skills and management. Services in which U.S. companies excel, including consulting and engineering, are required not only for new projects but for completed and ongoing waste disposal projects for which funding has expired. The Chinese government cannot combat the waste explosion without maintaining or increasing current investments, and the pressure brought to bear by the deterioration of hastily planned facilities is increasingly felt. Needs include employee and managerial training for the operation of facilities as well as maintenance and monitoring services that local staff cannot provide.

Box 7. SULO Case Study
In 1998, SULO, a German-based waste management company, established a joint venture in Beijing. SULO is Germany's number-three provider of waste services, with activities in New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore in addition to China. Although SULO provides a variety of services internationally, including composting, pre-treatment, and waste sorting, it is currently producing only garbage bins in China, for both local consumption and export markets.

SULO has experienced many problems with regard to the Chinese solid waste market. Local Chinese authorities are unwilling to invest in new waste management systems due to insufficient funds, and SULO expects that the market will remain unsuitable for the next few years. Despite many efforts to convince municipal governments, SULO has been unsuccessful in providing services other than the sale of garbage bins. An example is SULOÕs recent attempt to experiment with a new waste management system in a small city in Inner Mongolia. Half the project was to be financed by the German Ministry of Cooperation and half by the Chinese government counterpart; after much deliberation, the latter refused to provide financing and the project was aborted.

SULO now has three representative offices in China, based in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Kunming (where it controls 100
percent of the market share). In three to five years, the company hopes to offer waste treatment technologies and services. Only three Chinese competitors exist in the whole country, all of which produce garbage bins of much lower quality; similarly, no foreign competition has stepped up. Some foreign companies have established offices in Hong Kong from which to watch the Chinese market and perhaps await more favorable conditions. Nevertheless, SULO feels it is well positioned, having prospected for the past two years and built up a solid network of governmental and organizational relations.

The development of this market, according to SULO, will be a result of changes in attitudes as opposed to policies, although policy will play a large role in strengthening the market in smaller cities and municipalities.

Trends and Conclusions

The solid waste management sector in China is currently in a stage of development similar to that of the wastewater treatment industry there three to five years ago. Current financing for solid waste projects is scarce. Competitors rely on bilateral aid or take bold investment steps in order to position themselves for the time when the waste industry in China becomes profitable.

Considering the estimated growth rate of this industry over the next five years and the promulgation of additional regulations that will force municipalities and industries to take a closer look at their own pollution disposal strategies, U.S. companies would do well to investigate and enter the market in order to position themselves. According to CRAES, the total amount of waste generated increases by 25 million tons a year. Seventy-five percent of this waste must be treated. In order to do this China must increase its waste management capacity by 55 million tons a year.

Selected References and Web Sites

References
"Beijing to Unify Waste Collection, Recycling System." China Online, June 14, 2001.

"China's Mines Scheduled for Cleanup." China Online, Oct. 23, 2000.

"Domestic Solid Waste Increased by 8-10 Percent in 2000." Guangming Daily, Dec. 8, 2000.

"Guangzhou Trash-Burning Plant Blazes Trail for Private Environmental-Protection Projects." China Online, Aug. 17, 2000.

Henderson, J. Paul, and Terrill J. Chang. "Solid Waste Management in China." Edited by H. Lanier Hickman, Jr. May 1997.

"Tianjin Begins to Levy Fee for Domestic Solid Waste Treatment." People's Daily, June 26, 2001.

Web Sites

Human and Nature in Harmony: China Environment and Development Information (categories include: waste management, waste disposal/treatment. Site consists of a collection of articles pertinent to this sub-sector): www.enviroinfo.org.cn.

United States Environment Program, Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics. Municipal solid waste management (an on-line technical publication provided by the United Nations Environment Program Web site. Includes Asia- and China-specific information): www.unep.or.jp/ietc/ESTdir/pub/MSW/index.asp.

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