SHENZHEN is exploring a replicable zero-waste model by building modern and environmentally friendly garbage-fueled power plants.

    For a more pleasant experience, the plants are turned into energy eco-parks that integrate such functions as household waste incineration, popularization of science and industrial tourism, as well as leisure and entertainment, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

    Zero waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. 

    Three energy eco-parks being built by Shenzhen Energy Environmental Co. Ltd. (SEE) have been put into trial operation.

    By the end of this year, it is estimated that Shenzhen’s daily waste incineration capacity will reach around 18,000 tons, according to the city’s urban management authority.

    At present, the city’s household waste incineration capacity is 14,000 tons per day, while landfill capacity is 7,000 tons per day. In the future, incineration will become the city’s main method for harmlessly treating household waste.

    There are five garbage incineration power plants in operation in the city so far, with one in Nanshan District, one in Bao’an District, one in Yantian District and two in Longgang District.

    For instance, the energy eco-park in Yantian, which mainly disposes of garbage from Yantian District and Dapeng New Area, can handle 450 tons of household garbage per day and 160,000 tons of garbage annually.

    Walking around the park, the reporter with the Daily found that the trees there provide pleasant shade and there is no foul odor in the air.

    Notably, there are also hilltop cafes, green corridors and rest areas for hikers, which provide wooden benches, hand-washing sinks, toilets, drinking water, emergency medical boxes and other convenient facilities.

    At the central control room, the monitoring images and data on the incinerators and waste incineration power generation are displayed on the screens and collected in real time. Several staff members are paying close attention to the operation of the entire power plant by staring at the screens.

    Liu Hanjun, head of the Yantian eco-park, said that the park can currently generate 6,800 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour, of which more than 80 percent is transmitted through the power grid to hundreds of thousands of households.

    On the first floor of the park’s comprehensive building, there is a corridor for the popularization of waste classification.

    In response to the public’s concern about secondary pollution resulting from waste incineration, a staffer with SEE said the current waste incineration and pollutant control technologies are mature, allowing them to avoid any adverse effects on the surrounding ecological environment.(Zhang Yu)