ByXINGYIinShanghai
[email protected]
T
rash sorting was a hot topic
inShanghai in the weeks
before a new municipal
regulation on waste man-
agement took effect onJuly 1, requir-
ing everyone, from households to
businesses, to sort their trash into
recyclable, kitchen, hazardous and
residual waste.
Though the regulation inconve-
niences people to form new habits,
and imposes fines for people who
don’t comply, it has boosted exist-
ing waste treatment businesses and
will create new opportunities in the
circular economy.
Dealing with waste is big busi-
ness, as 2 00 billion yuan ($29 bil-
lion) in investment will be needed
if the current trash-sorting program
inShanghai is to be implemented
acrossChina, according to a recent
report byOrientSecurities.
The report calculated a market
valued at 7 .56 billion yuan forShang-
hai in the whole industrial chain —
education, monitoring of garbage
disposal, transportation, and con-
struction of waste treatment facili-
ties.It then projected theShanghai
model to the national level and esti-
mated the market size at around 2 00
billion yuan.
China plans to establish domestic
waste classification systems in 46
major cities by next year, and all the
cities at prefecture level and above
— about 3 00 — should have similar
systems to classify and dispose of
trash by 2 0 25, according to theMin-
istry ofHousing andUrban-Rural
Development.
ZhangLequn, deputy director of
the urban development department
at the ministry, said in a news con-
ference inJune that the government
will inject 21.3 billion yuan into the
building of waste treatment facili-
ties.
As the trash-sorting program is
implemented inShanghai, more
kitchen and food waste, which will
demand proper treatment facilities,
isbeing separated from residual
waste.
According to theShanghaiMunic-
ipalAdministration ofLandscaping
andCityAppearance,Shanghai now
has more than 6, 000 metric tons
of kitchen waste every day, but the
existing kitchen waste treatment
facility can only process about 5, 000
tons.
The administration is responsible
for the city’s domestic waste man-
agement, and it aims to increase
the capacity of waste treatment
inShanghai to handle more than
20 , 000 tons of residual waste
through incineration, and to utilize
7 , 000 tons of kitchen waste daily in
2020.
HuaYinfeng, general manager at
ShanghaiLimingResourcesReuse
Co, told local news portalShanghai
Observer: “All the people sorting
trash have given us confidence to
expand our plant.”
The company operates an organic
waste treatment center inPudong
NewArea that turns kitchen waste
into electricity.Its current capacity
is 3 00 tons of kitchen waste per day,
and the plant expansion will allow it
to process another 700 tons.
The plant uses correctly sorted
organic waste to produce biogas, but
when it started in 2 017 about 3, 0 to
40 percent of the waste it received
contained other waste like plas-
tic bottles, construction trash and
paper, which needed to be removed
first to avoid lower efficiency during
the anaerobic procedure.The purity of the kitchen waste
rose significantly in 2 0 18 when
Shanghai announced an action plan
for trash sorting, and now after the
implementation of the regulation, 99
percent of the waste it receives meets
the minimum quality level, saidHua.
The expansion ofLimingResourc-
es is just one example of the accelera-
tion of the capacity building taking
place inShanghai.
Abiological kitchen waste treat-
ment center was set to open by the
end ofJuly onChongmingIsland,
Shanghai, using kitchen waste to
feed fly maggots, which on maturity
can be used as animal feed and their
droppings as fertilizer.
The center is operated byShang-
haiYuanshiEnvironment and will
work as a biotechnology demonstra-
tion area.“If our technology meets market
requirements, we hope it can be
applied in other districts inShang-
hai,” saidNaChenning, co-founder
ofShanghaiYuanshiEnvironment,
adding that the profit from process-
ing 1 ton of kitchen waste through
this technology is about 700 to 8 00
yuan.
Apart from waste treatment, many
startups are eyeing opportunities in
other parts of the long value chain.
YangFei, a lecturer in econom-
ics at ZhejiangUniversity ofScience
andTechnology, said the compulsory
trash sorting will make once value-
less trash profitable.
According to theNationalBureau
ofStatistics,China produced 215 mil-
lion tons of domestic waste in 2 017 ,
up nearly 6 0 percent from 2 00 1.
TheStateCouncil plans to reach arecycling rate of at least 35 percent
of domestic waste in the 46 major
cities by 2 020.
HeatherKaye, anAmerican fash-
ion designer, has started using recy-
cled materials to make swimwear.
She and her friend,Indian designer
IteeSoni, registered a company
calledGoldenFinch inShanghai in
2010 , and they launched new brand
LoopSwim in 2 0 19 to highlight the
company’s sustainable production.
“Ten plastic bottles can make one
set of bikini top and bottom, and 14
plastic bottles can make a sun pro-
tective shirt,” saidKaye. “We prefer
to manufacture locally as much as
possible, so all of ourAsia,Austra-
lia andMiddleEast production is
proudly — and beautifully — made
inChina.”
K ye said she was excited to seea
Shanghai’s trash-sorting program
taking effect, and the incredible
level of commitment from the gov-
ernment and the citizens wanting to
use resources wisely impressed her.
“We knowChina has studied
recycling systems around the world
before implementing the current
plans, and is looking for ways to
make recycling profitable for the
private companies who will likely
take it over,” she said. “When waste
has value, people see opportunities.”
GaoCheng, a former veteran
private equity investor fromHong
Kong, is also digging for gold in the
recycling industry.She founded a
startupEcoEasy inJuly, and wants
to introduce biodegradable food con-
tainers into the fast-growing food
delivery market.
“The trash-sorting program is
good news for us, because it is an
important step toward building a
circular economy inChina,”Gao
said.
Chinese people used an average
60 million take-away containers per
dayin2 0 18, and the number is still
growing, but most of them have not
been recycled because the containers
are usually contaminated by food
and oil, she said.
“Although the existing kitchen
waste treatment centers inChina
might not have the facility and stan-
dards to process biodegradable plas-
tics together with food waste, this is
what we are working to solve,” she
said.
SongYa’nan, an environment
industry researcher atGuotaiJunan
Securities, said the trash-sorting pro-
gram has created a social consensus
on supporting businesses related to
environmental protection, and that
will help the industry grow in the
long term.
“The upgrade of waste treatment
facilities will push the growth, and
new technologies in waste process-
ing will receive more investment,”
Songsaid.LawsrequiringShanghaihouseholds,firmstosorttrashcreateopportunitiesincirculareconomy
Bigbusinessofwastemanagement
Workers at a rubbish treatment center near the NationalExhibition andConventionCenter (Shanghai).
XINHUAAyoung tourist walks toward a rubbish cabinet on theBund in Shanghai.YANGYI/FORCHINADAILY12 BUSINESS August 2-8, 2019 CHINA DAILY GLOBALWEEKLY