Beijing Unveils Solution To Reeking Landfills - Giant Deodorant Guns To Spray Dump Sites - Guardian

[hatrack]

Beijing is to install 100 deodorant guns at a stinking landfill site on the edge of the city in a bid to dampen complaints about the capital's rubbish crisis. The giant fragrance sprays will be put in place by May at the Asuwei dump site, one of several hundred tips that are the focus of growing public concerns about sanitation, environmental health and a runaway consumer culture.

Municipal authorities say they will also apply more plastic layers to cover the site in response to furious protests by local residents who have to put up with the stench when the wind blows in their direction. The high-pressure guns, which can spray dozens of litres of fragrance per minute over a distance of up to 50m, are produced by several Chinese firms and based on German and Italian technology. They are already in use at several landfill sites, but they are merely a temporary fix. Beijing's waste problem - and China's - is expanding as fast as its economy, at about 8% each year. With millions more people now able to afford Starbucks, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other elements of a western, throwaway lifestyle, the landfill sites and illegal tips that ring the capital are close to overflowing.

According to the local government, the city of 17m people generates 18,000 tonnes of waste every day - 7,000 tonnes more than the capacity of municipal disposal plants. "All landfill and treatment sites in Beijing will be full in four years. That's how long it takes to build a treatment plant. So we need to act right now to resolve the issue," said Wang Weiping, a waste expert in the city government. "It's necessary to restructure the current disposal system. We cannot rely on landfill anymore. It's a waste of space."

Less than 4% of Beijing's rubbish is recycled – the UK recycles 35% – but is still near the bottom of the EU recycling league. Two per cent of Beijing's rubbish is burned but the rest is dumped in landfill sites, which cover an area of 333,000 sq m. Cities throughout the country face a similar problem.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/beijing-rubbish-deodorant

[Statistical]

1. Um how about you put it under dirt?

Did nobody consult them on how a landfill works.

Notice the terms "fill" and "land".

It isn't called a trash heap for a reason.

Here China I'll give you a free diagrams


DIRT
---------
TRASH

As opposed to


TRASH
---------
DIRT

[pscot]

2. 333,000 sq.miles is an astonishing number.

That's an almost 10% of the country; an area the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined, piled high with trash. Obviously 1.2 billion people generate a lot of waste, but still. Can that be accurate?

[Massacure]

3. You have the wrong unit.

You saw m and though miles. Miles is mi, m is meters. 333,000 square meters is an area roughly 1,900 x 1,900 feet

[pscot]

4. That doesn't seem right either

Ninety per cent of the solid waste from 1.2 million people contained in an area a bit more than 1/3 of a mile on a side?

[Massacure]

5. The figure isn't completely unreasonable.

My family fills the better part of a 40 gallon trash bin one a week. If we assume 10 gallons of trash per person per week, you would fill a 1,900 x 1,900 ft landfill with 3.3 feet of trash per week, or fill it 175 feet high in a year. The two interesting questions that need to be answered are how much can the volume of trash produced be compacted by waste management operations, and how similar is the amount of waste generated by the Chinese to that of Americans.

[AlecBGreen]

6. I find this hard to believe

"Less than 4% of Beijing's rubbish is recycled ..."

I lived in China for several years. EVERY aluminum can & EVERY glass & plastic bottle was grabbed out of trash cans by some of the poorest citizens. You would literally have people waiting by you as you drank, and asking sheepishly if they could have the bottle when you finished. While Beijing is much wealthier than where I lived, I find it very hard to believe that only 4% of all waste was recycled. Even styrofoam & plastic bags were collected religioulsy.

[Statistical]

7. Maybe as prosperity is increasing they are picking up lazy, sloppy habits?

[wtmusic]

8. Possibly referring to that by governmental agencies

Could be that scavengers are so effective, they make it uneconomical for the city to recycle.