Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062

www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Country report

Urban solid waste management in Chongqing: Challenges

and opportunities
a,* a,b a,b a
Yuan Hui , Wang LiÕao , Su Fenwei , Hu Gang
a
Department of Resource and Environmental Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
b
Key Lab for the Exploitation of Southwestern Resource and the Environmental Disaster Control Engineering, Ministry of Education China,
Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

Accepted 15 September 2005

Available online 8 November 2005

Abstract

The dual influences of the resource supply and protection in ecological environments will pose a significant challenge to ChinaÕs sus-
tainable development. Solid waste management offers opportunities to improve profits by conserving resources and improving environ-
mental performance. This paper examines municipal solid waste (MSW) management in urban Chongqing, the nationÕs fourth largest
municipality after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. In this paper, we will provide information on the quantity and composition of MSW, as
well as give an overview of different methods for collection, transport, treatment and disposal of MSW. At present the daily amount of
MSW generated per person is about 1.08 kg; food waste accounts for about 59% of total MSW. MSW in Chongqing has a higher mois-
ture content (64.1%) and a lower LHV (3728 kJ/kg) than other cities in Asia, which is an obstruction for incineration. Landfills are the
main method of disposal in Chongqing, but pollution caused by simple landfills and lack of backup MSW disposal capacity are becoming
major problems in the main districts of Chongqing. In this paper, the challenges being faced and opportunities to MSW in Chongqing are
analyzed and some suggestions are given for improving the MSW system in the future.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction produced by discharging untreated waste; (iii) indirectly

In the past 20 years, the Chinese economy has achieved
faster growth, but ecological damage and environmental
pollution have also increased at a high rate. The govern-
ment, and national and foreign experts, agree that the dual
influences of resource supply and protection of ecological
environments will pose a significant challenge to ChinaÕs
sustainable development (Qi, 2004; Su and Wang, 2003).
Since China already produces 29% of the worldÕs MSW
each year (Dong et al., 2001), an integrated solid waste
management (ISWM) system that includes the reducing,
reusing, recycling and disposal of waste material will play
an important role in ChinaÕs sustainable development due
to its several benefits: (i) reducing the depletion of the
earthÕs limited natural resources; (ii) reducing pollution
*
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 23 65111477.
E-mail address: yandyson@163.com (H. Yuan).
saving energy. At present, ISWM is considered to be an
optimized waste management system where the environ-
mentally and economically best solution is chosen for each
case, without regard to the waste hierarchy (Sundeqvist,
1999), and to be the key towards successful MSW treat-
ment (Hu et al., 1998). The implementation of the ISWM
system, however, depends on several important factors
such as the country statutes, environmental requirements,
the strategies in environmental management, energy policy,
economic and technological feasibility, and the education
and environmental awareness of the Chinese people.
Some advanced industrial countries, such as Germany,
Sweden, Japan, and the United States have achieved
remarkable results in resource comprehensive utilization
and solid waste management. As shown in Fig. 1, there
have been a lot of changes in the strategies of solid waste
management in these countries during the period of
1960–2004. One revolutionary change was that the solid

0956-053X/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2005.09.005
 H.Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062
1960~1975
Landfilling
Avoid
Composting
Reduction
Recycling
Recovery Incineration
Landfills
Fig. 1. Solid waste management – revolutionary changes in the strategies in the advanced industrial countries during the period 1960–2004.
waste management begins with reduction – using less to
begin with and reusing more – and recycling. In addition,
incinerating and composting organic waste became domi-
nant methods of solid waste treatment instead of disposal
by landfills.
Currently there are about 660 cities in China that pro-
duce an annual quantity of about 130 Mt of solid waste.
In general, China still has a bigger gap in solid waste recy-
cling, treatment technology, and management strategy
compared with many advanced countries. Throughout
the country, solid waste management is becoming a major
issue. The treatment and disposal of urban solid waste will
be an important goal for the governments of all cities in the
years to come. In this area, the potential for development
and business opportunities are enormous in China.
Chongqing, located in southwest of China, is the
nationÕs fourth largest municipality after Beijing, Shanghai,
and Tianjin. It is also the economic center and the hub of
all transportation (water, land, and air) in and out of
southwestern China with busy rivers and highways radiat-
ing in all directions. Because of its location at the head of
the very large reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam,
Chongqing is slated to become the beachhead for the devel-
opment of western China.
Chongqing Municipality has 40 districts and counties
with an area of about 82,000 km2, and population of about
31 million people. The main urban area of Chongqing
Municipality, often called Chongqing, consists of nine dis-
tricts (Dadukou, Yuzhong, Jiangbei, Shapingba, Jiu-
longpo, NanÕan, Beibei, BaÕnan, and Yubei) and is the
center of the Chongqing Municipality in finance, education
and culture. These main districts are between Yangtze
River and Jialing River. In the past, most of the MSW
was piled along the riversides, dumped directly into the
river or just minimally treated. The secondary pollution
caused by the MSW was harmful to the sanitation and
environment. For example, during heavy rains leachate
would run off into the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. Now,
as the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir nears,
both the riversÕ flow rates and their carrying capacity of
the pollutants will change; both MSW management and
1053
1975~1990 1990~2004
Classification Reduction
Recycling ISWM
Landfills
Avoidance
Reduction
Recycling
Recycling
Recovery
Landfills
Land.
disposal in Chongqing Municipality are becoming vital to
the environmental protection of the Reservoir area.
In this paper, ChongqingÕs urban solid waste manage-
ment is introduced in detail with regard to the areaÕs solid
waste characteristics, management, collection system,
treatment processes and the disposal methods. The major
problems faced at the main districts in the Chongqing
Municipality will also be analyzed. Our analysis explains
the future challenges and opportunities for improving the
solid waste management system.
2. Generation and characteristics of the urban solid wastes
The amount of MSW generated in the main districts of
Chongqing has increased with the growth of the economy
and urban population. In 1996, the total amount of the
MSW was 0.888 million tons, the average amount gener-
ated per day equaled 3072 tons and the daily amount gen-
erated per person was 0.95 kg (Li and Gu, 2001). In 2001,
the annual total and average amount generated per day
rose to about 1.16 million tons and 3176 tons, respectively,
which means the daily amount generated per person rose to
nearly 1.08 kg. As shown in Fig. 2, urban solid waste
(USW), is mainly composed of domestic refuse, road clean-
ing refuse and institutional refuse (official, business,
schools, and service industries), as well as a small amount
of construction refuse.
Table 1 shows the composition of USW in the main dis-
tricts of Chongqing Municipality. It is clear that the concen-
tration of food waste in urban solid waste makes up the
highest proportion at 59.2% followed by plastics, paper,
fiber, wood, glass, metal, and rubber. The metal content of
solid waste generated in Shapingba district is higher than
in the two other sites. The characteristics of USW composi-
tion at the main districts in Chongqing are shown in Table 2.
Compared with the results of an investigation in 1998 (Li and
Gu, 2001), specific weight, combustibles and ash content
data in 2002 declined significantly, while the percentage of
fiber and paper has increased over the years.
It can be seen from Fig. 3 that the composition and
properties of the USW generated in Chongqing are
1054 H. Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062

Fig. 2. Urban solid waste composition in Chongqing.

Table 1
Composition of urban solid waste in ChongqingÕs main districts (%)
Location Paper Fiber Plastic Rubber Wood Food waste Metal Glass
Longtousi pilling site 10.0 6.1 18.3 0.4 4.4 58.5 0.1 2.2
Xinglong pilling site 9.6 6.6 15.2 0.0 5.1 57.8 0.7 4.9
Shapingba district 10.6 5.5 13.5 0.4 3.0 61.4 2.4 3.2
Average 10.1 6.1 15.7 0.3 4.2 59.2 1.1 3.4

Table 2 Compared with these two cites, the concentration of foods

Characteristics of urban solid waste at the main districts in Chongqing waste and the moisture content of the urban solid waste in
(1998 and 2002)
Chongqing are much higher while the net caloric value is
Characteristics 1998 (Li and Gu, 2001) 2002 much lower. The net caloric value of the solid waste gener-
Food waste percentage (%) 69.3 59.2 ated in Kitakyushu and Singapore is about 9630 and
Paper and fiber percentage (%) 6.5 16.2 8000 kJ/kg, respectively, but the net caloric value of the
Specific weight (kg/m3) 470 351
Combustibles (%) 37.1 22.8
solid waste in Chongqing is only about 3728 kJ/kg.
Ash content (%) 16.31 13.1 Although it meets the lowest caloric value needed for incin-
Moisture content (%) 53.6 64.1 eration, it is far too low for waste heat utilization and cost-
Net calorific value (kJ/kg) – 3728 effective incineration.
Tchobanoglus et al. (1993) propose the following typical
different from two other Asian cities, Kitakyushu, Japan distribution of components in residential MSW for low-
(Kitakyushu Environmental Cooperation Center) and Sin- (per capita income less than US$750, 1990), middle- (per
gapore City, Singapore (Bai and Sutanto, 2002), due to dif- capita income US$750–5000) and upper-income (per capita
ferences in economic development and standards of living. income more than US$ 5000) countries (see Table 3).

Fig. 3. Comparison between three cities.

 H.Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062 1055

Table 3
Comparison of typical distribution of components between Chongqing and low-, middle- and upper-income countries
Component Chongqing Typical distribution of components in residential MSW (Tchobanoglus et al., 1993)
(average)
Low-income Middle-income Upper-income
countries countries countries
Food waste 59.2 40–85 20–65 6–30
Paper 10.1 1–10 8–30 25–60
Plastics 15.7 1–5 2–6 2–8
Textiles, fiber 6.1 1–5 2–10 2–6
Rubber, leather 0.3 1–5 1–4 0–4
Yard waste, wood 4.2 1–5 1–10 11–24
Glass 3.4 1–10 1–10 4–12
Metal 1.1 1–5 1–5 3–13

According to Table 3, Chongqing belongs to the status
between low- and middle-income levels. Also, according
to a MSW overview of Asia (Hunsicker et al., 1996), the
MSW generation (per person per day) in Chongqing in
2001 was lower than that of the average MSW generation
level (1.95 kg/person/day) of Japan in 1990s. Developed
countries such as Japan and the US have a relatively high
MSW generation rate per person per day, therefore the
changes of the MSW generation and properties of USW
in Chongqing show that ChongqingÕs standard of living
has improved and the fuel structure has changed from pre-
dominantly coal use to natural gas. This increase of daily
MSW generation per person with increased economic
development and standard of living also occurs in other cit-
ies in China such as Guangzhou (Chung and Poon, 1998a),
but Chinese people have a habit of preferring food that is
unprocessed and unpackaged. The result of this preference
may mean that the proportion of MSW that is made up of
food waste will not decline significantly even as industry
grows and wealth increases. Even in the more developed
Chinese cities such Guangzhou and Hong Kong, food
waste is higher when compared to most western countries
(Chung and Poon, 1998a).
3. Urban solid waste management
Under the national laws and regulations of solid waste
management, treatment and disposal, there are local regu-
lations and laws related to USW management, such as
‘‘Chongqing Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Fees Levying
Rules’’ and ‘‘Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules.’’
A representative diagram regarding the solid waste man-
agement systems is given in Fig. 4. ChongqingÕs solid waste
management administration consists of two main institu-
tions: the Chongqing Environment Protection Bureau
(CEPB) regulates the management of industrial solid waste,
while a department under the Chongqing Municipal Admin-
istration Commission (CMAC) takes the responsibility for

Fig. 4. Urban solid waste treatment itinerary.

1056 H. Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062
the management of the MSW. As shown in Fig. 4, the solid
waste management system includes mainly collection sites,
transfer stations, recycling and final disposal.
As MSW rapidly grew, the Chongqing Solid Waste
Disposal Company (CSWDC) was founded under the
management of CMAC. CSWDCÕs work covered the
design, construction and management of the solid waste
disposal facilities and landfills. Before the reforms of
the separating the government from enterprise manage-
ment, the Chongqing Solid Waste Company was an eco-
nomic unit of the CMAC that was, in turn, an
administrative department of the local government. After
the reforms had taken place and in order to enhance the
treatment level of Chongqing, the CSWDC separated
from the CMAC, and a state-owned company financed
by a local authority, the Environmental and Sanitary
Protection Holding Groups (ESPHG) was founded. The
ESPHG has been authorized to manage the stateÕs prop-
erties as well as licensed to operate the cleaning, transfer-
ring and disposing of urban solid waste through various
facilities in the main districts of Chongqing Municipality.
As a result of market economic principles, the Chongq-
ing Solid Waste Disposal Company (CSWDC) has now
become a sub-company of ESPHG.
3.1. Collection system
Source-separated collection of household-generated
MSW is one of the key steps for integrated solid waste
management (ISWM). Source-separated collection means
that the MSW is first classified as several different parts
such as composting material (food waste), combustible
materials (fiber and paper) and recyclable materials
(metals and glass). Once classified, these different waste
types are then collected and forwarded to the appropri-
ate users. Unfortunately, source-separated collection at
the household level has not yet been implemented
successfully in Chongqing. At present, the main
collection systems of the MSW (as shown in Fig. 5)
are as follows:
By residents or
residential village management companies
Residential refuse
By CMAC
Transfer stations
Refuse container
(Separating recyclable thing)
By CMAC
Road cleaning refuse
Fig. 5. Urban solid waste collection system in Chongqing main districts.
(1) Residential refuse: individual households place their
daily refuse into a container nearby, then the refuse
is collected and delivered to the waste collection sta-
tion by the residentsÕ committee or the realty manage-
ment department of each individual village. The
Environmental Sanitary Protection Division of the
Chongqing Municipal Administration Commission
(CMAC) then transfers this refuse to treatment sites.
In some large residential villages, the refuse is col-
lected and sent directly to the treatment sites by the
real estate company.
(2) Institutional refuse: the collection and transportation
of institutional refuse are the responsibility of the
individual institutions or professional environment
and protection companies. (These are paid services.)
(3) Commercial refuse: at most food markets in Chongq-
ing, fresh vegetables are often delivered from local
farms and therefore offered directly to the consumer
with very little packaging. Because of this direct
source, the refuse always contains a high proportion
of organic matter. Except for some unwanted vegeta-
bles that are reused as forage to feed animals in the
farms, most refuse is collected by the food marketÕs
management office and is sent to the treatment sites
directly.
(4) Road and public places cleaning refuse: the cleaning
of roads, public places and disposal of this refuse is
the responsibility of a department under the CMAC.
The cleaning refuse is first collected into a nearby
container, and then it is sent to treatment sites by col-
lection vehicles.
(5) Construction refuse: the materials that are unable to
be either recycled or reused are sent directly by the
construction company to the treatment sites for
disposal.
In some large residential villages, residents are required
to sort their waste before setting out their waste in bags to
be collected. In 2002, the rate of waste packaging was 68%
(CEPB, 2002) and the waste containers on the streets were
Institutional refuse
Collection sites (two situations)
By each institution
Commercial refuse
(two situations)
By each market et al.
Disposal sites
 H.Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062
not suitable for waste classification. However since 2002,
the government has made some attempts to encourage res-
idents to classify their waste. In some areas of Chongqing,
for example, Shapingba district, the waste containers were
re-designed. Local authorities changed the one-box waste
receptacle into a container with two boxes, one for recycla-
ble waste and the other for non-recyclable waste (distin-
guished by different colors of the containers as well as a
label). In addition, a special box for battery disposal was
set between the two containers.
At present, USW is collected in a mixed state, but
residents can volunteer to participate in the source-
separated collection. For residential areas, there are two
types of urban solid waste collection: collection at roadsides
and household collection. Roadside waste collection is a
method where residents sort recyclable items into the spe-
cific collection containers offered by the local authorities.
Although many households collect the relatively high valu-
able things from the domestic wastes before they place them
into the collection sites, most reusable and recyclable items
are sent to collection/transfer stations or treatment sites. As
in many cities in developing countries, most reusable things
are recovered through the discharging process by scaveng-
ing from nearby counties that have reusable waste collec-
tion system. However, when the scavengers sort through
and remove the reusable items from the waste collection
containers or stations, they also often scatter about the
remaining unwanted waste on the street. This litter causes
sanitation problems and is an additional environmental
issue. In addition, workers sorting through the refuse in
transfer stations or treatment stations may come into con-
tact with physically and chemically unsafe waste products.
As a result, these workers are at risk for injury and illness;
prolonged contact in this occupation could cause personal
health and hygiene problems among the operators.
The result of an investigation conducted by Chongqing
University in 2002 shows that most of the residents in
Chongqing were aware of the pre-collection sorting refuse
containers and understood how to use them. Only 21%
(Liu, 2003) of all the citizens interviewed disapproved of
this refuse sorting system. Therefore, there is a strong trend
in support of separated refuse collection, which will be
helpful to future waste recycling and reuse.
3.2. Transfer station
In Chongqing, the transfer station is a small two-storey
building that is used to facilitate the transfer of urban solid
waste from smaller collection vehicles to large transport
vehicles. All of them are storage-load transfer stations or
places where USW is emptied directly into the storage con-
tainer and then later loaded into transport vehicles by aux-
iliary equipment.
By the end of 2000, there were 304 transfer stations in
the main districts of Chongqing. In 2004, there will be
469 MSW transfer stations (23,205 m2) with a total trans-
ferring capacity of 3000 t/d. The typical layout of the trans-
1057
fer station is a two-story building. The collected MSW is
temporally stored in the MWS holding facility that has a
trap door through the ceiling of the first floor. The truck
can enter the first floor, and when the trap door in the ceil-
ing is opened, the temporarily stored MSW can be auto-
matically dumped into the truck. In terms of sanitation,
these transfer stations are well managed and maintained.
3.3. Recycling and treatment
About 6.9% of all USW in Chongqing is incinerated and
only 1.8% is composted. According to 1999 data, the
amount disposed of by simple landfills was about 91%,
(Li and Gu, 2001).
3.3.1. Recycling
In recycling, waste materials are processed for industrial
use and then reformed into new or similar products.
Recycling is often viewed as a resource conservation
activity and it may also offer a greater return for many
products in energy savings. The recyclable materials in
ChongqingÕs MSW are paper, plastic and metal. In
Chongqing, each recyclable beer bottle is worth about
¥0.1–0.2 (US$0.01–0.02), each aluminum soda can, ¥0.05
(less than US$0.01) and each plastic bottle, ¥0.05–0.1
(US$0.01). Waste paper and magazines are worth about
¥0.2–0.4 (US$0.02–0.05) per kg. These recyclable materials
are often collected at the source or in waste bins by
scavengers and reusable waste collectors patrolling
different residential areas. After collection, these items are
sent to factories for recycling.
3.3.2. Composting
This second means of recapturing value of MSW is
through the use of the natural biodegradation process.
Composting is widely used in Western countries, but in
Chongqing Municipality, the composting method is rarely
used because of several market reasons:
1. Because sorting urban solid wastes is not widely prac-
ticed by residents, sorting equipment must first be pur-
chased before composting can take place. This
equipment cost would make the price of compost higher
than fertilizer.
2. The public acceptance of composting is low, because
most farmers have psychological resistance to the prod-
ucts derived from wastes.
3. The usefulness of compost is limited. The compost has
less fertility than the chemical fertilizer. Compost can
only be used to grow non-food products such as public
green spaces. This lack of demand would cause serious
problems for survival of the compost company.
4. Strict regulations, monitoring and quality standards
which prevent the second pollution of compost is not
adequate; therefore, composting is currently not a rec-
ommended method (Zhang and Li, 2000).
1058 H. Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062
3.3.3. Incineration
The third approach to recapturing the value of MSW is
to convert the energy stored in waste by incineration.
Although many combustibles are recyclable, there is often
a higher total value in burning the waste for energy than in
recycling it. Currently, only the Yubei MSW treatment
sites have simple incineration facilities (40 t/d), but these
sites have no effective waste gas controlling system
and the energy generated by the furnace cannot yet be
utilized.
As stated previously, only 6.9% of the USW in Chongq-
ing is disposed of through incineration. There is currently
one functional incineration facility in Chongqing, One is
in the Yubei treatment site. The other facility in Xinglong
has been shut down. But these are both simple incineration
facilities. When the USW are transferred to the treatment
sites, they are hand-sorted for recyclable items. After segre-
gation by gravity separation and vibratory screening, they
are sent to the incineration facilities.
ChongqingÕs first modern incineration plant is now
under construction. Tongxing Incineration Plant, located
in Tongxing Town, Beibei district, has a capacity of 1000
t/d. About 28% of all the urban solid waste in Chongqing
will be sent to the Tongxing Incineration Plant. This incin-
eration plant will be equipped with two SITY2000 grates
provided by MARTIN GmbH; these grates will be suitable
for waste with a high moisture content, a high percentage
of incombustibles and a low net caloric value. This plant
will be equipped with a pollution control system and elec-
tricity generation facilities (2 · 12,000 kW). This pollution
control system will ensure that the discharge not only meets
the Chinese standards for pollution control for municipal
solid waste incineration, but also can meet the European
pollution control standards for municipal solid waste incin-
eration. The schedule for start of operations is at the end of
2004.
3.4. Disposal systems
3.4.1. Simple landfill
In past years, a simple landfill or dump was used for
urban solid waste disposal in Chongqing main districts.
This simple landfill treatment method is still broadly used
in many cities of China. Because the main districts are hilly
in terrain, the simple landfill sites were built in the hollows
between hills, and the waste was put into the pits from
above. The simple landfill is a disposal method in which
Table 4
Simple MSW treatment sites in Chongqing
Location: Qilongcun Renjiawan Xinglong Longtousi
Service area Yuzhong NanÕan NanÕan Jiulongpo Jiangbei
(District): Dadukou
Area (ha) 20 3 4.4 5.2
Capacity (t/d) 1000 300 500 400
Data sources: Department of Resource and Environmental Science, Chongqing University.
solid waste is disposed of in a manner that is not environ-
mentally sound; waste is often exposed to the elements,
vectors and scavengers, and susceptible to open burning
or combustion with only minimal dust removal facilities.
Its pollution-control facilities were always simple and low
in effectiveness. Therefore, the simple landfill had serious
environmental problems caused by untreated leachate
and lack of covering clay.
There were nine simple landfill sites (Table 4) in the
main districts of Chongqing Municipality; these simple
landfillsÕ total disposal capacities were below the amount
of daily urban solid waste generation. Most of these simple
MSW treatment sites had MSW separation, compost and
incineration or landfill facilities, but because of cost and
market reasons, the compost and incineration facilities
were not in use. Since these simple landfill sites were scat-
tered in Chongqing, and could not meet the standards of
environmental sanitation, Chongqing has now converted
to centralized disposal and has constructed standardized,
modern sanitary landfills in order to improve urban solid
waste disposal methods and management. Currently only
two out of the original nine simple landfill sites are still
open and operating – one in Yubei and the other in Beibei
– and they will be closed when Heishizi Sanitary Landfill
site and Tongxing Incineration plant are opened.
3.4.2. Sanitary landfill
Because of the harm caused by simple landfills, Chon-
gqing is now using new and standardized MSW treat-
ment methods to protect the environment and peopleÕs
health. The first standard sanitary landfill in Chongqing
was the Changshengqiao Sanitary landfill which finished
construction and opened in June 2003 (Fig. 6). The total
investment costs were ¥480 million (US$57.8 million),
half of which was financed by the World Bank. Chang-
shengqiao Sanitary Landfill is south of the main districts
and covers an area of 68 ha. Its capacity is 1500 t/d,
serving five of the nine main districts. It is designed for
20 years of service. This landfill employs an engineered
method of disposing solid wastes on land in a manner
that minimizes environmental hazards by spreading the
solid waste in thin layers, compacting the solid wastes
to the smallest practical volume and applying a cover
at the end of the operating day.
The USW collected at the transfer station is delivered by
vehicles to the temporary piling station of the sanitary
landfill, then is sent to the operation site for final disposal
Liangfengya Jinggangbei Yubei Jigongtai Liujiaolanya Total
Shapingba Beibei Yubei Banan Jiulongpo
2.8 2 1.4 1.4 1.3
550 300 150 Closed Closed 3240
 H.Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062
Collected MSW
Environmental monitoring
Weighing
Transferred to
the operation section
Unloading
Runoff
Surface water
drainage system
Fig. 6. Flowchart of Changshengqiao sanitary landfill site in Chongqing.
by compression dumping vehicles (5–8 t). Leachate gener-
ated within the sanitary landfill is collected and treated at
a leachate treatment station to the first level of the
National Effluent Discharge Standards specified by the
State Environmental Protection Agency of China before
being discharged into the river.
The daily operational costs of Changshengqiao Sanitary
Landfill site are about ¥88/t (US$10.63/t), and the collec-
tion and transportation cost of the MSW is about ¥45/t
(US$5.42/t). Treatment of leachate by the osmotic mem-
brane costs about ¥2/t (US$2.41/t).
As landfill capacity is less than the total amount of
USW generated per day, a second standard sanitary
landfill facility, Heishizi Sanitary Landfill, is now under
construction. This sanitary landfill is located in the north
of ChongqingÕs main districts, covering the districts north
of the Jialing River. The landfillÕs total design capacity is
1000 t/d and it is expected that it will be in operation for
25 years of service. According to the design, by the 5th
year of the landfillÕs operation, the methane generated
in the landfill will be able to be utilized to generate elec-
tricity. The amount of electricity that can be generated is
estimated to be about 6.75 million kW/yr with a profit of
more than ¥3 million (US $0.36 million) per year for
about 25 years. As mentioned above, these two sanitary
landfill sites will be designed, constructed and operated
by the Environmental and Sanitary Protection Holding
Groups.
4. Problems and perspectives
4.1. Problems
4.1.1. Pollution caused by simple landfill sites and unsuitable
site selection
As Chongqing develops economically and grows in pop-
ulation, the problems of urban solid waste management
1059
Sanitation protection
Operation
Closure and
Placement Compacted Covering utilization
Leachate Landfill gas
Collection Collection pipe
Treatment Combustion
Discharge
become more and more important to solve. Over time,
ChongqingÕs urban population will grow, spreading into
the less populated surrounding areas of the city; simple
landfill sites formerly located in the suburbs now exist
within city limits. Because in these simple landfills only a
negligible quantity of leachate is treated before being dis-
charged into the groundwater, this situation will devalue
the land nearby, pollute the water, land and air as well as
endanger the health of more and more people. Although
there are two near standard sanitary landfill facilities
(Changshengqiao and Heishizi) being built, occupying such
a large area of land is not economically sound for Chongq-
ingÕs main districts because of the high population density
and high real estate value. After the simple landfill sites
close, these occupied sites will soon become a part of
ChongqingÕs urban area and the land will need to be need
re-used in a more practical manner. Therefore, a future
challenge for Chongqing is to find a way to speed up the
recovery and stabilization of the landfill sites so that the
land can serve a new purpose.
4.1.2. Low LHV of the MSW is an impediment to the
implementation of incineration
The characteristics of ChongqingÕs USW result in three
main problems when considering disposal by incineration.
First, the high moisture content and low caloric value of
the USW result in unstable incineration. Second, an analy-
sis of USW also suggests that any energy benefits generated
by incineration do not pay off economically. Third, USW
with a relatively high moisture content has a tendency to
erode the incineration systems. As a result, landfills would
be the most effective and efficient and, therefore, most
dominant method of disposal. But there is one major disad-
vantage to landfilling, even though they can meet the
demands of MSW disposal standards, this method of dis-
posal must utilize a large land area – land that is scarce in
this populous city. This is the main reason why incineration
1060 H. Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062
of solid waste has a promising future in Chongqing – it
requires less land utilization. However, if incineration is
to be broadly adopted in the future, prevention of dioxins
and fly ash pollution will be a particularly urgent problem
and challenge for Chongqing as the areaÕs hilly topogra-
phy, low wind velocity, high frequency of static breeze
and already existing air pollution issues are not conducive
to handling additional stressful factors on air quality.
4.1.3. Lack of an efficient and suitable MSW collection
method in Chongqing
The low combustibility and caloric value of Chongq-
ingÕs urban solid waste is caused by the sorting that scav-
engers and reusable waste collectors do at the refuse
disposal sites. The refuse in waste containers starts out
in a mixed state with all types of solid waste combined
together, but scavengers and reusable waste collectors
sort through to remove recyclable and reusable items.
After they are through, often most of the paper and
other combustibles have been removed leaving only the
non-combustibles. Therefore, on the one hand, waste
scavengers and reusable waste collectors play an impor-
tant role as an informal waste recovery system (Liu,
2003), but on the other hand, they create a situation that
lowers the caloric value of solid waste and makes incin-
eration a less viable solution for waste disposal in Chon-
gqing. There are also some additional problems that
need to be solved. For example, rummaging through
the solid waste has a negative impact on the health
and hygiene of these scavengers and waste collectors.
In addition, the waste collectors are quite selective about
which types of waste they will take away; waste with
economic value like paper and beer bottles will be sorted
and removed but other types of waste such as batteries
are left behind, causing harm to the environment. Unfor-
tunately, these informal waste recovery systems make it
harder to regulate and implement a more efficient and
standardize waste treatment system. This kind of
informal waste recovery system occurs in other cities of
China (Chung and Poon, 1998b) as well as other devel-
oping countries in Asia such as in India (Sudhir et al.,
1996).
4.1.4. Lack of the standby MSW disposal capacity
As the ChongqingÕs population grows, so too will the
amount of USW. It has been forecast that by the year
2020 (Lin, 2003), the total amount of urban solid waste
generated will be 4664.4 t/d. Also the 1996–2000 Environ-
mental Sanitary Protection Plan (CMAC, 1997) states that
by the end of 2010, the rate of MSW disposal will be 100%
in the main districts of Chongqing Municipality. Although
the present disposal capacity of MSW has met the demand,
there is not enough standby capacity. In Kitakyushu city,
Japan, there is a standby capacity of 34% more than the
current amount of urban solid waste generated. The lack
of standby disposal capacity will be a problem in the
future, and unfortunately because of current challenges
regarding the lack of land for additional landfills, poor
quality waste for incineration (Huang et al., 2003) and
the low value of compost (Zhang and Li, 2000), this prob-
lem is not likely to be solved easily.
4.2. Opportunities and perspectives
In the future, to meet the needs of an integrated solid
waste management system, the following aspects should
be improved:
4.2.1. Perfecting the existing waste fees system
Lack of financial support is an obstacle in the local
waste collection system. The amount of funding allocated
for sanitation and environmental protection in Chongqing
is much lower when compared with other large Chinese cit-
ies; the average amount Chongqing spent on sanitation and
environmental protection per capita is only 8% of that of
Shanghai (Liu, 2003). In ChongqingÕs main districts, the
MSW fee per household is now ¥3/mo (US$0.36/mo)
(CMG, 2000), which is much lower than that in other big
cities of China. The waste fee levying system should be
improved so that the fees charged can provide adequate
financial support to the existing urban solid waste disposal
facilities and finance programs to reduce the quantity of
urban solid waste generated.
4.2.2. MSW collection methods should be specialized
according to each districtÕs individual situations
Because different districts may have different economic
situations, efficient and effective separation and collection
of solid waste materials may require different methodolo-
gies. The investigation shows that citizens are highly aware
of the usefulness of sorting the refuse; they understand that
sorting their refuse before collection will reduce the amount
of solid waste produced and facilitate the recycling of mate-
rials as well as reduce the overall cost of waste disposal. In
addition, sorting out the food waste from MSW and con-
verting this organic refuse into compost will reduce the
overall moisture content of the urban solid waste. Should
incineration become an option for MSW disposal, MSW
with a lower moisture content than currently will increase
the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the facility.
4.2.3. Improving the waste collection systems
Currently, Chongqing has an informal waste sorting,
collection and recovery system made up of scavengers
and patrolling reusable waste collectors. The local govern-
ment should consider organizing and managing this infor-
mal system so that it can be better regulated and
formalized into a waste collection plan overseen by the
municipal institutions. Not only would this improve the
efficiency of urban solid waste collection and recovery,
but it would also provide job opportunities for these infor-
mal waste collectors as well as better protect their health
and welfare. More detailed research is needed on manage-
ment methods.
 H.Yuan et al. / Waste Management 26 (2006) 1052–1062
4.2.4. Implementing an integrated disposal method
Based on current household-sorted waste, when food
refuse, recyclables and reusable items are sorted out from
the main bulk of MSW, the moisture content will decrease
and the net caloric value of the remaining MSW will
increase. This change would be an advantage when inciner-
ating waste. The ash generated after incineration could be
disposed at the landfill site. This integrated final disposal
method would reduce the quantity of the urban solid waste,
thereby relieving the pressure of the Changshengqiao
Sanitary Landfill and Heishizi Sanitary Landfill sites, and
Tongxing Incineration Plant. Nevertheless, in the future,
Chongqing should enlarge its waste disposal capacity
according to the amount of urban solid waste growth to
avoid the actual disposal capacity decline under some acci-
dental circumstances.
5. Conclusions
Due to the rapid urbanization, economic development
and population growth, the amount of the USW is increas-
ing at a rate of about 6%. In the main districts of Chongq-
ing, the average amount of USW generated is about
1.08 kg/d per capita in 2001. This is an increase from
0.95 kg/d per capita in 1996, representing an increase of
about 13.7%. ChongqingÕs MSW has an average net caloric
value of 3728 kJ/kg. Food waste represents a significant
proportion of total MSW risings, and accounts for about
59% of total solid waste production. The remaining waste
is made up of plastic (15.7%), paper (10.1%), fiber (6.1%),
wood (4.2%), glass (3.4%), metals (1.1%) and rubber
(0.3%). The high concentration of food waste is related
to Chinese eating habits; Chinese people prefer their food
unprocessed with little packaging. Due to the low amounts
of packaging, this preference leads to waste that has a
higher proportion of organic food waste.
Sorting and separating waste at the source is considered
to be an effective method of recycling waste items. At pres-
ent, USW collection consists of different categories of waste
items mixed together; however, some attempts of sorting
before collection have been made with street-side road
refuse. An investigation of the public awareness and educa-
tion indicates that residents are concerned about solid
waste removal and believe that there are advantages to sort
waste before removal. These results shows that as the econ-
omy grows and standard of living increases, Chongqing
residents are becoming more and more concerned about
environmental conditions and corresponding effects on
their health. To address these concerns, the Chongqing
government should implement a system that encourages
citizens to separate their waste before collection.
About 90% of ChongqingÕs total USW is disposed in
sanitary landfills and simple landfills. Since the net caloric
value of ChongqingÕs USW meets the minimal require-
ments for successful incineration, an integrated disposal
method should be implemented in Chongqing. This inte-
grated disposal method should include the following: (1)
1061
improving the existing waste fees system; (2) specialized
separation and collection methods based on each districtÕs
individual needs; (3) improving waste collection systems;
(4) implementing an integrated disposal method.
Acknowledgments
The investigation in 2002 was done in collaboration with
Kitakyushu Environmental Cooperation Center. We also
would like to extend our appreciation to Sharlene Yang
for English editing and revision. We also would like to
thank several anonymous reviewers for their inspiring
and constructive comments of the paper.
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