The first trash-burning power plant in Henan Province, the most populous province in China, began operating Wednesday.
Currently, the plant runs at half capacity. The second of its two 1.2-kw units will become operational in late October.
Over 90 percent of the technology and equipment used in the plant were China-made.
Believed to be the largest of its kind in the country, the plant, located in Zhengzhou City, burns 1,000 tons of garbage a day.
Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, produces 2,500 tons of garbage a day. Before the plant was built, the city, like many others in China, buried the garbage at dumping grounds, occupying large tracts of land and causing underground water pollution.
Whatever is left over from burning the garbage as fuel will be made into pavement bricks or raw material for cement.
(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2002)
