Accounting for the shortage of solid waste disposal facilities in Southern China

摘要

Most developed communities, such as Japan, the European Union and the USA, are experiencing a shortage of sites for waste disposal facilities (WDFs) (e.g. Alter 1991; Schall 1992; Chilton 1993; Ikeguchi 1994; Anon. 1994; Berenyi 1996; European Commission 1999). Strong control of local public bodies over site selection decisions and public opposition appear to be the chiefcauses (Schall 1992; Charles 1993; Capua Magagni 2000). Recently, in the USA adequate landfill capacity has been ensured, but mainly because of the ease of planning permission for new very large regional landfills (Berenyi 1999). This further illustrates the artificial nature of waste disposal site availability. Despite the obvious difference in environmental and institutional mechanisms, WDF shortages do occur in the People's Republic of China (PRC). By using the cases of Guangzhou and Dongguan as illustrations (Fig. 1), we will argue that the WDF shortage in southern China is also artificially caused, namely through poor waste and resource management, and an inferior institutional system. Ranked by gross domestic product (GDP), Guangzhou was the third largest city in the PRC in 1997 (Tan 1998). Dongguan, a prefecture level city, has a per caput GDP ranked fifth in Guangdong Province (Zhai 1997). The information presented in this paper pertains to the central administrative area of Dongguan (see Table 1).