China, accustomed to facing its challenges with giant constructions, has built in recent years more than 1,000 waste incineration plants, which represents more than half of the installed capacity in the world. These facilities were designed to transform urban waste into energy, reduce landfills, and supply electricity to homes, factories, and entire communities.
What began as an urgent solution has turned into a paradox: now there is not enough garbage to feed all those plants. In provinces like Anhui or Hebei, several incineration lines remain closed for long periods due to lack of waste, according to data from World Energy Data.
Factors reducing available garbage
The decrease in waste for incineration is due to multiple causes:
- Economic slowdown and lower consumption.
- Population decline in some regions.
- Improvement in domestic separation and recycling, which diverts materials before they reach the incinerators.
Although the plants were designed to process more than one million tons of waste per day, they currently operate at 60% of their average capacity.
Strategies to keep the furnaces running
Faced with the lack of garbage, some plants have resorted to extraordinary measures:
- Payment for waste to ensure supply.
- Collection of industrial or agricultural waste.
- Excavation of old abandoned landfills to recover combustible material accumulated over decades.
These practices reflect the magnitude of the challenge and the scale of the constructions undertaken by the country.
Advances and limits of the model
The lack of garbage is also a positive symptom: more recycling and separation at source mean less waste destined for incineration.
However, the situation highlights the limits of a model that bet on massive technological solutions without adequately calibrating demographic evolution, consumption patterns, and the real needs of the system.
Key strategies in China’s waste management
- Smart classification and collection: mobile apps and AI containers that encourage waste separation.
- Large-scale infrastructure: recycling plants for electronics, vehicles, and energy recovery centers.
- Circular economy and sustainability: national plans to reuse paper, scrap, and construction waste, as well as recycling batteries and electronics.
- Regulation and supervision: government agencies with clear goals for the recycling industry.
Current challenges
- From importer to exporter: China no longer needs to import garbage as raw material, now it manages its own waste.
- Urban growth: rapid urbanization increases the quantity and complexity of waste.
- Citizen participation: achieving effective and consistent separation remains a challenge.
Examples of innovation
- Smart containers with cameras and weighing systems that reward correct classification.
- Recycling platforms for durable goods, such as appliances and vehicles.
- Waste-to-Energy conversion to reduce the need for landfills.
China is transforming its waste management towards a more circular and technologically advanced model, driven by national policies and the need to handle the growing generation of urban waste.
The paradox of the lack of garbage reflects both the advances in recycling and the challenges of having bet on massive solutions without foreseeing the evolution of society and consumption.
