State Council of China strengthens municipal waste treatment industry

In May 2011, the State Council of China approved Opinions to further improve the municipal waste treatment in China. Based on the 1.3 billion population, a sharp increase of the volume of municipal waste, caused by the average 10% GDP annual growth rate and rapid urbanization in the PRC in recent 20 years and paired with inadequate waste treatment capacities, led to serious impacts on the urban environment. To deal with the municipal waste output and realize a quantity reduction, reclamation and hazard free treatment of the municipal waste, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other 15 Ministries jointly issued the Opinions.

Therein, the development targets for the municipal waste treatment are identified. It is expected, that the rate of hazard free treated municipal waste in China will reach more than 80% by 2015, and sorting, collection and transportation of the kitchen waste should be realized in 50% of the urban communities. The resources utilization rate of municipal waste should reach 30%.

The Opinions identified the following measures to strengthen policy support:

• Ensure the land supply for the construction of waste-to-energy plants
• Accelerate the approval processes for waste-to-energy projects
• Broaden the investment channel. Encourage non-state-owned investors to get involved into construction and operation of municipal waste treatment facilities.
• Establish an incentive mechanism: Strict implementation and continuous improvement of tax preferential policy for municipal waste treatment
• Ensure facility construction: Priority for building municipal waste treatment facilities during the new construction or reconstruction of urban areas.
• Improve the innovation ability: Strengthen the support of technology R&D for the municipal waste treatment
• Implement talents plan: Set up related municipal waste treatment majors in colleges and universities. Make great effort to develop vocational education.

The waste-to-energy industry also receives political support from the representative of the Chinese central government, Mr Wen Jiabao, who announced in March 2011 that the government would support waste-to-energy plant construction in China. This will accelerate the various approval procedures with local authorities for ZhongDe regarding ongoing energy-from-waste projects.