More than 400 out of the 688 cities in China are now awash with garbage, experts have warned.

 

Swelling urban populations have been blamed for the growth in waste with figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showing the proportion of urbanites out of the country's population rose from 30.9 percent in 1999 to 42.99 percent in 2005. A total of 562 million people lived in cities last year.

 

An airborne remote-sensor detected more than 7,000 garbage dumps larger than 50 square meters in the suburbs of the four municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing.

 

Shanghai alone produces about 6 million tons of trash a year. With an area only 0.06 percent of the country's total territory, the city houses more than 19 million people.

 

In addition to domestic refuse, rapid economic growth has also brought more industrial waste. Statistics from the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) show that the country's total industrial solid waste soared from 784 million tons in 1999 to 1.34 billion tons in 2005.

 

More than 770 million tons of industrial solid waste were reused last year, according to the statistics.

 

But experts noted that industrial and household waste has been expanding too fast, which has offset the country's rising investment in its treatment.

 

Garbage treatment in China has long been a headache because of insufficient technology. China only has a few dozen garbage-fueled electricity generating plants in operation. In the west of the country, garbage is generally burnt.

 

Currently, 70 percent of China's garbage is dumped in landfill zones or is simply heaped up in the open air, 20 percent is burnt or fermented as compost and 10 percent is recycled.

 

Some cities have labeled dustbins in different categories to encourage residents to separate garbage, but it has been slow to catch on.

 

As garbage begins to occupy more and more farmland, experts say it is becoming a "new tumor", gnawing at China's rapid economic growth.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2006)