In June 2016, the government of the Chinese city of Xiantao cancelled an incineration project following protests by residents who felt they were not adequately consulted before the project was approved. As growing Chinese cities produce more construction and consumer waste, incineration projects have increased—along with widespread protests of their environmental and health consequences.

In 2016, the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Management processed 8.726 million tons of municipal solid waste, an increase of 800,000 tons from the year before. Municipal incineration projects are supported by the Chinese government’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which includes a goal to double current solid waste incineration capacity by 2020.

While China’s national and municipal governments may be moving in the direction of incineration, some Chinese NGOs are pushing for preventative efforts to reduce the amount of waste generated in cities. These grassroots organizations—including Aiyouxi, Roots & Shoots, Wuhu Eco, and the China Zero Waste Alliance—are offering inspiring alternatives for managing urban waste.

Aiyouxi and Lively Green Color: Improving Residential Environments

Aiyouxi (Love and Hope) began its environmental work in a residential community in the Jinjiang district of Chengdu, including waste sorting, urban gardening, kitchen garbage composting, rainwater collection, and energy saving lamp programs. These efforts proved so effective that in 2015, the team registered as an independent NGO, Lively Green Color, which implements environmental projects in Chengdu’s urban communities. “Environmental projects are very popular among communities because they bring practical benefits for residents, but still it’s challenging and takes a long time to bring about behavior change of the residents,” Zhou Junchuan, Lively Green Color’s project manager, said in an interview.

Roots and Shoots Chengdu: Education, Practice, and Advocacy

Roots and Shoots Chengdu focuses on reducing and sorting  waste. “We began researching waste in 2010, when waste problems became increasingly urgent. As a local NGO, we address on environmental issues closely relevant with daily life,” Wei Wei of Roots and Shoots said in an interview. Their ultimate goal “is always to encourage residents to reduce waste from the beginning,” Xiaojuan, a member of Roots and Shoots, explained in an interview.

In 2017, Roots and Shoots Chengdu incorporated kitchen garbage composting into one of its communities’ existing leaf compost efforts. “It took us more than half a year to learn from experience in Bangalore, India, and apply these methods in one of our partner communities,” Wei Wei said, “but we need support from community residents and the property manager to copy the garbage composting practice in other communities, because garbage composting needs daily checks—and it smells.”

Roots and Shoots Chengdu also actively advocates for better policies for municipal solid waste. It frequently submits motions to the Sichuan Province People’s Congress and the Sichuan Province Political Consultative Conference for better waste separation.

Wuhu Eco: Monitoring Incinerators

The NGO Wuhu Eco was founded in 2009 to implement the China Waste Information Network, which is supported by Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. The network has an online system to monitor the operation of incinerators in China, and it requests information from incinerators across the country.

“We work for the public. To monitor incinerators, the public needs information and expertise,” said Wuhu Eco’s Zhang Jingning. Real-time information on incinerators’ emissions, although still incomplete, has been incorporated into the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs’ Blue Map app, a mobile application that has real time data on air pollution, water pollution, and incineration across China.

China Zero Waste Alliance: Building Partnerships

The China Zero Waste Alliance brings together individuals and NGOs working to address China’s waste problems; both Roots & Shoots Chengdu and Wuhu Eco are regional hubs of the alliance. The alliance’s mission includes not only reducing and recycling waste, but also decreasing its environmental and health impacts. “We are a commitment-driven alliance. We are closely connected to our local stakeholders and respond to their needs,” said founder Mao Da.

The alliance convenes meetings to facilitate knowledge sharing and capacity building on fundraising and working strategies. NGO members and the alliance also partner on fundraising, and many members are building small teams focusing on specific projects, including reducing plastic and packaging waste. The alliance and its members advocate to improve municipal solid waste policies by submitting their collective comments on policy drafts.

Changing National Policies

Instead of delivering waste to landfills or incinerators, these local NGOs and the China Zero Waste Alliance are helping residents reduce waste in their own backyards while monitoring the growth of incinerators. Despite the growth of bottom-up actions like these, incineration plants continue to increase and top-down policies still require cities to give preference to incineration.

The Chinese national government has begun to incorporate waste sorting into its planning; a 2017 plan requires 46 cities, including Chengdu, to implement municipal solid waste sorting before 2020. However, this policy is not compulsory, making it difficult to implement and enforce.

Today, as incinerators in Europe face problems with overcapacity and waste shipping, China must proceed carefully, incorporating the efforts of these grassroots organizations to reduce—not just incinerate—waste.