新浪微博
腾讯微博
微信
QQ空间
QQ好友
手机阅读分享话题

China

China Focus: China scales up rural sanitation to embrace a clean countryside

2019-02-22 09:23:25

NANCHANG, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Residents in Nuanshui Village carry rubbish to a "waste bank" every day. They are willing to stand in a long queue waiting to turn their waste into daily necessities.

Sitting in the city of Dexing in east China's Jiangxi Province, the remote village opened the waste bank in 2016. The move encourages villagers to collect garbage and raise awareness of environmental protection.

Back then household waste could be easily spotted in Nuanshui. Villagers used to throw plastic bags in the river. However, the village environment has seen dramatic changes after the two-year operation of the waste bank.

In the eyes of locals, worthless plastic bags, used batteries, cans and cigarette butts are no longer disposable. In the bank, they can give 80 plastic bags, or 40 used batteries, or 200 cigarette ends in exchange for a bar of soap.

As of the end of 2018, the waste bank in Nuanshui has received a total of 30 tonnes of trash, while spending on items for exchanging amounted to 85,000 yuan (12,600 U.S. dollars).

"The government used to pour over 100,000 yuan into waste disposal every year in one village. But the littering could not be rooted out," said Tang Yongfeng, head of the agriculture and rural affairs administration of the city of Dexing.

Since the operation of the waste bank covered all villages in the city with more than 100 waste banks providing trash-exchange-goods services, waste disposal fees for each village have been cut to around 20,000 yuan.

"Waste banks are very popular with the villagers, which have also achieved very good results," Tang said.

He said rubbish collected in the rural areas would finally be dealt with the way of waste-to-energy program in the cities, converting waste into electricity and heat.

Curbing environmental pollution in rural areas has been a concern of China, as well as the whole world. China has been making efforts to improve the rural living environment.

According to the latest "No. 1 central document," released by central authorities, China will continue to promote rural development and improve rural living environment and public services. The living environment in rural areas is expected to see remarkable improvement by 2020.

In Nanshan Village in the city of Gaoan, also in Jiangxi, it is rare to see garbage, and the classified dustbins with bright colors are eye-catching.

"I saw classified dustbins only in the cities, as well as cleaners. We have our own in the village now," said Gu Guangrong, a village cleaner, adding that the environment of the village has improved a lot in recent years.

Only in Jiangxi, rural communities in 44 counties have started waste treatment. Sewage treatment facilities have been constructed in over 2,000 villages. More than 5.7 million rural families have installed flush toilets, accounting for 74 percent of entire rural households in the province.

Despite many achievements, China's rural areas have seen relatively slow progress in sanitation, and there is scope for improvement, according to Xu Guangjian of Remin University.

To catch up with cities, China has been promoting sewage treatment and improving sanitation facilities in the vast rural areas. So far, at least 20 provinces and regions have rolled out a series of policies to treat waste water and classify garbage.

"The country should further attach great importance to rural ecological environment. In addition, a long-term mechanism should be worked out, with more investment in sanitation facilities and technical supports," Xu said.

Editor:Jiang Yiwei