Municipal solid waste management in China: using commercial management to solve a growing problem

Abstract

The municipal solid waste (MSW) problem in China is expanding rapidly, with annual waste production growing at close to 10% per year, but sanitary landfills are still rare. This paper discusses China’s MSW management problems, analyzes MSW production trends, and proposes countermeasures using commercial management to address China’s MSW problems. Various organizational and technical hurdles, including centralized planning and economic disincentives, stand in the way of the establishment of a vibrant commercial MSW management system. But commercialization of the MSW industry is the optimal and perhaps only route for effectively purging China of its MSW problem. The development of an ‘industry chain’ with upstream and downstream linkages is required.