Statistic shows that China generates 17-18 million tons of food waste each year, which is approximately six percent of the food that it produces. In recent years, the Chinese government has realized that addressing food lost and waste with the appropriate technology can provide substantial economic, social and environmental benefits, and Implementing modern solid waste management principles, such as the sorting of household waste, can help to transform unavoidable food waste to a valuable resource.
Starting in 2000, the Chinese government piloted a waste-sorting plan in 8 cities, then in 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued "The Implementation Plan of Garbage Sorting," which required 46 cities nationwide to carry out mandatory garbage sorting. Shanghai is the first of these cities to implement mandatory garbage sorting, which has caught nationwide attention, and inspired discussion. The implementation of mandatory garbage sorting is at the forefront of the campaign to encourage all Chinese citizens to embrace waste-sorting as a new lifestyle. Different streams of waste will be treated with the most suitable solutions, such as incineration, anaerobic digestion and landfill.
In the meanwhile, the central and local governments of China have been supporting the environment/ waste management and renewable energy industry with various favorable policies and subsidies. In theory most waste can safely be recycled for animal feed, soil enrichment or energy generation. In China, food waste makes up 56% of 300 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced each year. Food waste recycling will become a significant industry for China; and if the most appropriate and efficient solutions are applied, substantial energy and economic value will be recovered. Currently, due to lack of proper treatment technologies and solutions providers, most Chinese food waste is sent to landfill or waste incinerators on the periphery of cities.
In general, an integrated MSW treatment solution is more efficient and environmentally friendly than landfill or incineration. Ideally, the process includes
• MSW Mechanical sorting – separating organic and non-organic components for recycling and feed for anaerobic digestion and RDF.
• MSW organic component anaerobic digestion treatment- generating power or heat
• MSW non-organic component RDF production – sale or feed for incineration
• Landfill – reducing volume, residue landfill, reject incineration
DP group has developed an Advanced Integrated Multi-Waste system (AIMS) to address the issue of complexity, cost and changing waste compositions. As a further advance on the standard solution, DP’s system integrates a thermal RDF to energy plant for conversion of the RDF output. DP AIMS solution has significant advantages in power output, operational cost and lower capital investment over traditional solutions. DP’s core waste and environmental management technologies originated in Europe and have been successfully adapted to meet the requirements in many different markets. Our excellent reputation has been built on proven, reliable technology and world class execution - which has been demonstrated in over 300 projects around the world.
