China's fast-growing cities will no longer be able to cope with the amount of rubbish they produce by 2020, according to a government study.
By that time the garbage produced annually by urban households and businesses in the world's most populous nation will reach 400 million tonnes, equivalent to the figure for the entire world in 1997.
The China Daily cited research by the China Council for International Cooperation and Development, a government-run environmental watchdog, which warned that inadequate waste management could result in methane explosions, the release of toxic gases and the pollution of water supplies.
Rapid urbanization, inadequate waste treatment and relatively low levels of recycling are already putting a heavy strain on landfill sites. The state media estimates that the average city dweller produces 440kg of waste a year. Between 70 percent and 90 percent is burned or buried in giant landfills, which reportedly cover 50,000 hectares nationwide.
China also imports other countries' trash, especially electronic parts, scrap metal and plastic products. Much of that garbage is reused, but plenty ends up in landfills.
Municipal governments are securing new sites but they are filling up faster than expected. Engineers in Chongqing estimate that the city's giant Changshengqiao landfill, which stretches over 35 hectares, will be full within 15 years, two years ahead of schedule.
Wealthier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are building treatment plants. Guangzhou is spending 5 billion yuan (NT$22.4 billion) to build seven plants by 2010, including one that is said to be the world's largest. But in other areas the only recycling is done by scavengers who sift through garbage dumps for bottles, cans and newspapers.(The Guardian)
根據中國政府一份研究指出,到了二○二○年,成長快速的中國都市將無力處理自己製造出來的垃圾量。
屆時,這全球人口最多的國家,每年都市家庭及商業所製造的垃圾將高達四億噸,相當於一九九七年的全球垃圾量。
「中國日報」引述公營環境監督團體「中國環境與發展國際合作委員會」的研究報告警告,廢棄物的處理不當,將導致瓦斯氣爆、毒氣外洩以及水源污染。
快速的都市化、不當的垃圾處理以及回收率偏低,對垃圾掩埋場造成極大壓力。這家公營媒體估計,每位城市居民每年平均製造四百四十公斤垃圾,70%至90%都以焚化處理或送至大型垃圾掩埋場。據估計,這些大型掩埋場全國佔地五萬公頃。
中國也進口其他國家的垃圾,特別是電子零件、廢棄金屬和塑膠製品。不少垃圾可再利用,但大部分垃圾最後丟棄至垃圾掩埋場。
各地市府單位都在尋覓新掩埋地點,但掩埋場的飽和速度比預期得快,重慶市的工程師估計,佔地三十五公頃的重慶大型掩埋場「長生橋」將在十五年內達飽和狀態,比規劃提早兩年。
較為富裕的城市如北京和上海正興建垃圾處理場。廣州將斥資五十億人民幣(新台幣兩百二十四億元),在二○一○年前建造七座處理場,包括其中一座據稱將是世界最大的垃圾處理場。然而在其他地區,唯一的回收就只是清潔工在堆滿瓶瓶罐罐和報紙的垃圾堆中,挑出可回收的資源。(衛報╱翻譯︰鄭湘儀)
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services. The drive-through concept originated with the drive-in restaurant, the first of which was established in the US in 1921. Patrons would order and eat the food that was delivered to their cars by workers called “carhops.” Ten years later, a drive-through service was introduced, but it was not until 1947 that the first exclusively drive-through restaurant opened its
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It’s meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event and the ancient Greek original on which it was initially modelled. Once
A: “Forbes” magazine just revealed Hollywood’s top 10 highest-paid stars of 2023. B: How much did those superstars make last year? A: Denzel Washington was at No. 10, having made US$24 million, which is about NT$771 million. B: That’s an astronomical figure to me. A: No. 9 to No. 6 were: Ben Affleck with US$38 million, Jason Statham with US$41 million, Leonardo DiCaprio with US$41 million, and Jennifer Aniston with US$42 million. A: 《富比世》最近公布了好萊塢去年的片酬排行榜。 B: 大明星的片酬到底有多高? A: 第10名是丹佐華盛頓、片酬2400萬美元,大約7.7億台幣。 B: 天啊這根本是天文數字! A: 第9到6名是︰班艾佛列克、3800萬美元,傑森史塔森、4100萬美元,李奧納多狄卡皮歐、4100萬美元,珍妮佛安妮斯頓、4200萬美元。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)