Carbon Neutrality Focus | What Supports China's Waste Incineration Industry Going Global?

With the rapid expansion of waste-to-energy incineration plant capacity, the promotion of waste sorting, the slowdown in waste growth, and issues such as underutilization of incineration plant capacity, public attention has been drawn to these challenges.

E20 Data provided by research institutes show that in the past two years, the average capacity utilization rate of domestic waste incineration power generation projects has been about 60%. The proportion of treatment scales with capacity utilization rates below 50% across various regions nationwide is 16%.

Facing difficulties, the waste incineration industry is actively seeking transformation, with capacity integration and overseas expansion becoming important paths for enterprises to break through. In recent years, leading domestic environmental protection companies such as Weiming Environmental Protection, Sanfeng Environment, Everbright Environment, and Hanlan Environment have successively deployed waste incineration industries in Southeast Asia (excluding Singapore) and Central Asia.

" "After nearly 40 years of development, China's waste incineration industry has formed a full industrial chain standard system covering incineration, power generation, and slag utilization, laying the foundation to provide Chinese standards, Chinese solutions, and Chinese cases to the world," said Xie Yuhong, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Environmental Protection Federation, at the "Belt and Road" Green Brand Going Global Plan and China Waste Incineration Solution Exchange Conference.

Possessing a Complete Waste Incineration Industry Chain

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According to data from the United Nations Environment Programme's "Global Waste Management Outlook 2024" report, in 2020, the global urban solid waste generation was approximately 2.01 billion tons, expected to increase to 3.78 billion tons by 2050, a growth of nearly 60%, mainly from developing countries. The report points out that 70% of low-income countries worldwide lack basic waste treatment facilities, requiring an annual investment increase of about 20 billion USD and promoting technology transfer. Currently, about 40% of waste in these countries is still treated by open burning or informal landfilling, causing severe air, soil, and water pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions (such as methane). Industry experts told reporters: "Landfilling household waste is equivalent to turning surface waste into underground waste, dispersing waste into concentrated waste, turning today's waste into tomorrow's waste. Waste incineration can largely solve these problems." The "14th Five-Year Plan for Urban Household Waste Sorting and Treatment Facility Development" proposes that by the final year of the plan, the national urban household waste incineration treatment capacity will reach about 800,000 tons per day, accounting for about 65% of urban household waste treatment capacity. Currently, China's urban household waste incineration treatment capacity has reached 1.1 million tons per day, accounting for more than 60% of the global total. "China's waste incineration projects are 'global leaders' in key links such as planning, design, manufacturing, construction, operation, and supervision, capable of providing integrated solutions covering the entire process of urban household waste and sharing good practices and knowledge with developing countries," said Tu Ruihe, Vice Chairman of the China Environmental Protection Federation and former UNEP Representative in China. International organizations such as the Asian Development Bank have cooperated with Chinese waste incineration power generation service providers to carry out demonstration projects in the Asia-Pacific region. This marks the accelerated export of China's advanced solid waste treatment technology to the "Belt and Road" markets. Guo Yungao, Secretary-General of the Energy and Environment Professional Committee of the China Environmental Protection Federation, also pointed out that China has a complete waste incineration industry chain with ample manufacturing capacity.
 

Possessing Mature Experience in Ultra-Low Emission

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Whether waste incineration emission indicators can fully meet or even exceed international standards depends crucially on the maturity of incineration technology. Among them, the control level of toxic and harmful substances such as dioxins directly reflects the core technical strength of waste incineration plants. Industry experts emphasize: "The emission standards of waste incineration plants in Shenzhen and Hangzhou far exceed the EU emission standards. We now have the capability and technical strength to meet the world's strictest standards." At Shenzhen Shenergy Environmental Protection Longgang Energy Ecological Park, the high-quality development achievements of household waste sorting and harmless disposal can be summarized in one sentence — drinking coffee while watching waste treatment, with no odor but only the aroma of coffee. As a megacity, Shenzhen innovatively built multiple energy ecological parks exceeding EU standards, becoming the first among large domestic cities to achieve full incineration after urban waste diversion and sorting. This not only completely resolved the "waste siege" crisis but also, due to excellent emission indicators including dioxins, broke the public's fixed impression of waste incineration power plants, turning "neighboring avoidance facilities" into popular "internet celebrity check-in spots" for citizens and tourists. According to industry experts, China has sufficient means to control dioxin emissions, whether through post-treatment or effective front-end pollutant classification, avoiding dioxin generation. Currently, new technologies such as low-temperature anaerobic cracking are being researched to effectively prevent dioxin formation. With ongoing renovation efforts, China's mature experience and advanced technology in ultra-low emission waste incineration are expected to be promoted and applied in countries co-building the "Belt and Road," helping the global waste incineration industry achieve green upgrades. Source | China Environment