Guangzhou faces significant waste management challenges due to its large population and rapid growth. It generates over 18,000 tons of solid waste per day, which contributes to climate issues like methane emissions. However, Guangzhou is working to transform its waste management through strategies like building incineration plants, improving infrastructure, raising public awareness, and encouraging waste sorting. Notable achievements include allocating many waste containers and generating electricity from incinerated garbage. Lessons learned include the importance of public involvement, developing an industrial waste management chain, and partnership between government, technology, and society.

1. Waste Management in Guangzhou, China
By Chen Ming April, 2015

2. Introduction
Guangzhou
Acreage: 7434 km², 11 districts
Population: 16.7 million
Climate: Located in the Pearl River Delta and bordering
the South Sea, Guangzhou features a pleasant
subtropical maritime-monsoon climate with warm
temperature and ample rainfall, sufficient sunshine and
heat, little temperature differences, long summer and
short frost periods, etc.

3. Key Issues of Waste Management
 Solid Waste: 18 thousand tons per day, 14 thousand tons of which are treated
It could cover Dongfeng Road (l. 8.8 km x h. 60 cm).
 Impact on Climate: Landfill could produce almost 50% methane and 50% carbon
dioxide; yet methane is nearly 72 times possible than carbon dioxide to cause global
warming.
 Problems: 1. Infrastructure and supporting service
are lagging behind.
2. Not-In-My-Back-Yard:
public awareness is not strong enough.

4. Key Strategies
Institutionalization: Solid Waste Treatment Office, Public Consultation and
Supervision Committee, joint conference mechanism, etc.
Infrastructure: Transforming from landfill to incineration
Waste Incineration Power Plant (Likeng Plant No. 2)
Advanced technology: BOT (build-operate-transfer),
with the capacity of 2000 tons per day
Huge investment: 20% of the total investment in is on
environmental protection
Integrated Supervision: industrial, environmental, social
and residents
Demonstration station: the whole treatment process is transparent

5. Publicity: Pamphlets, Posters, Videos, Demonstration
Encouragement: Environment-friendly Families
Campaigns: Communities, Schools, Families, Working Places
Raise Public Awareness
Key Strategies
Religion: advocate waste sorting among disciples

6. Key Strategies
 Allocated over 210,000 containers, updated over 27,000
classified garbage cans, established 31 mini demonstration
stations for kitchen garbage recycling and 1,700 community
waste recovery stations, 20 large-scale garbage sorting centers
and 39 hazardous garbage repositories, 73 lines of garbage
transport, etc.
 The incinerated garbage generated 170 million kilowatt-hours of
power, equals to saving 60,000 tons of standard coal
consumption or the emission reduction of 217,000 tons of carbon
dioxide.
 Remarkable progress in the sorting and recycling of garbage

7. Lessons & Implications
Lessons:
Public awareness and involvement
Industrial chain of waste management
Partnership: led by government, promoted by technology,
engaged by society
Implications: How to guarantee the effectiveness of
implementation
Best Practices to Share from the
Guangzhou Award

8. The Guangzhou Award
The predominant challenge is
seen as environmental issue.

9. Abu Dhabi: The Estidama Building Code in Action
Aim: To enhance sustainable construction methods in
the Emirate
Approaches: A compulsory environmental rating
system which should encourage rapid uptake of the
system in the construction industry; an operational
rating system taking account of the resource use during
the building’s life cycle
Five stages: Site set-up and substructure,
Superstructure and building envelop, Internal fit-out
and services, Commissioning and documentation, Final
site visit and sign off.

10. Melbourne: Thermal Imaging To Measure Temperature Reduction
Aim: To double the green canopy in the city to
40% as well as a raft of other green
infrastructure initiatives such as expansion of
green roofs, rain water harvesting, increasing
surface permeability and hence to ultimately
reduce the city’s temperature by 4 degrees
centigrade by 2040.
Major challenges: 1) Financing, 2) community
awareness, 3) regular Media campaigns and 4)
participatory practice.
Solution: A 4-year public engagement program
to raise awareness and a participatory approach
to designing the strategy and implementing the
activities on the ground.