China has many garbage incinerators. So many, they don’t have enough garbage to burn

A few years ago, China was the world landfill. Since the 80s, countries around the world exported their garbage to China and processed them as raw materials for their industry. Today, China has a problem with waste management, but very different. What is left over is not garbage, but incinerators to burn it.

Hungry incinerators. China has more than 1,000 garbage incineration plants for electricity generation. Combined, they have an ability to burn more than one million tons of garbage per day. Currently, according to a report from Cinda Securities These incineration plants are working at an average of 60% of their capacity, which represents an important underutilization of their resources.

Because. The amount of waste continues to grow in China, the problem is that it does so at a lower rate than their management industry. According to South China Morning Post, Since 2019 solid waste has increased more than 10%, but incineration capacity has doubled. The reasons for this lag are, on the one hand, an economy in recession where it is urbanized at a slower pace, and on the other an excess of optimism of the past.

On fire. Although they started building incineration plants much earlier, it was in the 2000s when China began a more powerful expansion. In 2015, China already had 223 plants working And he intended to double his ability. And what if they got it. In October of last year there were 1,010 incineration companies throughout the country. And all despite the numerous population protests and the Criticism of environmental organizations They estimate that, only in 2022, this industry issued more than 100 million tons of CO₂.

It was seen coming. China did not count on a point where the population (and therefore the waste) would not grow so quickly. In addition to the Covid caused the migration of cities to less populated areas. This excess of optimism could have a pass in the first years, but according to statements by climate activist Chen Liwen to SCMPin 2020 it was already evident that there was a problem.

Energy garbage. It is not just about eliminating waste, but also extracting energy in the process. The garbage incineration plants for energy production were part of the Chinese government plan for renewable energy. They offered many subsidies to companies that generated electricity with this system, which caused many companies to see a profitable business. It is estimated that such a plant takes ten years to recover the initial investment, so the situation of many of these plants is critical.

Image | Chatgpt

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