South China's Guangdong province plans to invest 21.7 billion yuan (US$2.6 billion) this year to step up treatment of its increasing solid waste materials.

The province has launched a series of anti-pollution drives which have paid off in reducing air pollution and water contamination, said Li Yihui, deputy director of the Guangdong Environmental Protection Bureau.

However, with its fast-growing economic development, the province still discharges huge amounts of solid waste materials annually, which include household rubbish, industrial waste materials, dangerous waste materials and rejected electronic appliances, the official said.

He added that the total solid waste materials discharged by the province totaled 46.34 million tons in 2001 alone and the treatment of a certain amount of the solid waste materials did not reach the desired control standards, resulting in repeated pollution.

The harmless treatment rates of household rubbish and medical waste materials in the province stood only at 14 percent and 16 percent respectively, the official noted, adding that the rate was even lower for the dangerous or industrial waste materials.

The official said that the province has planned 152 anti-pollution projects this year, with total investment topping 21.7 billion yuan (US$2.6 billion) in a bid to better handle the solid waste materials.

In accordance with the plan, the province is expected to set up an effective administrative mechanism and a monitoring and control system governing solid waste materials disposal by 2005.

A series of model projects and facilities will also be established in the key areas of the province to curb the pollution caused by the solid waste materials.

By 2010, a series of modern treatment and disposal bases regarding solid waste materials will be set up in the province, and the pollution by the solid waste materials in the province will be basically brought under control, the official said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2003)