The amount of waste produced in the city is growing at 8 per cent each year, said government officials.

The 18,000 tonnes of trash thrown out by residents every day already go far beyond the 11,000 tonne capacity of all the garbage disposal plants combined, said Mr Guo Weidong, a publicity division head of the government. 

18kt daily = 6.57m t annual for 1 big city beijing, imagine huge potential for whole china

TonyGan      ( Date: 12-Jun-2009 10:26) Posted: CG got 2t daily cap in 2010   June 12, 2009 Beijing's garbage crisis City's 13 landfill sites expected to be full in four years' time, say officials A refuse collector picking up trash left outside restaurants along a Beijing street yesterday. The amount of waste produced in the city is growing at 8 per cent each year, said government officials. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE BEIJING - THE Chinese capital faces a 'garbage crisis' as an increasing volume of rubbish threatens to overwhelm the city's existing landfills, officials said. Waste produced in Beijing is growing at 8 per cent a year and is expected to exceed the capacity of the city's 13 landfill sites within four years, municipal government officials were quoted as saying on Wednesday. They warned of a 'garbage crisis' if the situation is not checked, noting that two of Beijing's dumps are already full and will soon close. 'If we don't reduce our garbage, or build more waste management facilities, within four years Beijing will run out of space for garbage disposal. The situation is very dire,' said Mr Wei Panming, an official of the municipal government's facilities section. The 18,000 tonnes of trash thrown out by residents every day already go far beyond the 11,000 tonne capacity of all the garbage disposal plants combined, said Mr Guo Weidong, a publicity division head of the government. He said the authorities were working on laws and penalties to cut down garbage production and have stepped up construction of new landfill sites. The nose-wrinkling problem also looms over other large and growing cities such as Shanghai and Chongqing, and the issue is an increasing worry for the nation's planners amid fears over pollution and water supplies. Shanghai's Changshengqiao sanitary landfill plant, for example, is expected to be full in 15 years, about two years ahead of schedule, officials said. The amount of garbage the city generated in 2007 was five times the size of the 421m Jinmao Tower, the tallest building in China. Professor Nie Yongfeng, of Qinghua University's College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, said developed countries deal with the problem by incineration, but the method is not used in Beijing for fear of the pollution it generates. CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, XINHUA