Problems and Challenges of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration in China

Along with the rapid economic development, urbanization and population growth in China, the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has been increasing sharply. Considering the basic principle of waste treatment and disposal, incineration opens up the possibility for solving the problems of large MSW generation but less land. Chinese government and most experts encourage the application of MSW incineration especially in Metropolis. However, some people criticized that waste incineration is a dying technology, strongly opposing the construction of MSW incinerators in their neighborhood. This article first analyzed the reliability of incineration technology all over the world from controlling technologies of dioxins, current dioxin emissions and incinerators changes, and dietary intakes of dioxins. It also made recommendations to ensure the justice and fairness of incineration: (i) encouraging public participation in the decision-making processes; (ii) selecting proper ways to locate the incinerator; (iii) adopting compensation mechanism;(iv) setting up monitoring mechanism and making stringent dioxin emission standards.