Work is under way on a new landfill mill to process residents' garbage in a drive to meet a worrying shortfall in?Shanghai's capacity.

The new plant will be an extension of the Laogang landfill compound, located 60 kilometers from downtown.

The landfill site is used for processing and burying most of the city's daily garbage and is struggling to keep pace with growing quantities.

It currently handles between 8,000 to 10,000 tons of garbage a day, even though it was designed for 4,900 tons. The expansion will add another 5,000 tons a day to capacity, the constructor, Shanghai Urban Construction (Group) Corp said yesterday.

The constructor said the project, which is costing about 1.035 billion yuan (US$158.2 million), will be ready for trial operation in November.

The city government will pay 30 percent of costs while the rest will come from companies running the future operation.

In addition to burying garbage, the site will also ensure space for covering up waste silts - the end product of processing - as well as ashes produced in rubbish burning, the constructor said.

Villagers living near the landfill site have long complained of the unpleasant smell around the area.

The new project is expected to increase capacity for treating waste silt, a major source of the foul smell.