ewatt – Debunking Myths of China

By Plicca Watt

In the Eastern coastal Chinese city of Hangzhou shrewd entrepreneurs are turning the city’s trash into valuable, clean energy. The Hangzhou Environmental Group (HEG) has transformed the city’s decades- old landfill into a methane gas powered energy plant and even attracts tourists to the plant site with environmental video games, hikes in the eco- park, and so called “trash tours.”

Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest, “A Man Stands Over A Pile Of Used White P”, accessed 7 Apr 2014, http://quest.eb.com/images/115_2759933

When garbage decomposes, a toxic methane gas is released which warms the earth twenty times faster than carbon dioxide. The HEG’s power plant traps and transforms the harmful gas into clean energy. Not only is this a profitable way to produce energy, but this system also helps curb pollution and better the environment in China. Part of the reason why China has experienced problems with pollution in recent years is due to the exorbitant economic growth. With a growing middle class, more Chinese people the economic ability to purchase consumer goods which in turn means more garbage is produced that will end up in the Chinese landfills. Even the Chinese government have shown concern for the nation’s environmental and pollution issues. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao states, “Environmental pollution has become a major problem in China’s current development and it has not been addressed well.”

It is encouraging to see that the Chinese have emerged with ingenious solutions, such as the Hangzhou Environmental Group’s landfill to energy plant, that facilitate not only economic growth, but also environmental health.