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Q: Where does all of Beijing's household rubbish go?
There must be huge, gigantic landfill sites stretching as far as the eye can see, somewhere near Beijing, but I've never heard anybody mention anything about landfill sites around the city. Where does all the rubbish go?
They go in landfill sites near Beijing, and those are the places that people don't talk about often. Do you know where the wastes from NYC or LA go? Yeah so I think you don't know either... It's usually because there's no advertisement for those places, because they're not the most tourist-friendly places for sightseeing.
Great question btw, viva China!
From what I have seen a great majority of rubbish is recycled. This is done on a different level to what is done in Australia. In my country various bins are provided and the householder places recyclables into them, These are then sorted by specialist companies and machinery. In China local collecters sort through the rubbish and get what they can sio they can sell this. On the outskirts of most cities are large and small yards where all the plastic, glass etc is stored to be onsold. While the people doing this have a very meanial job I have a lot of admiration for them and they work very hard to earn small amounts of money. In Shenyang I often see then riding around on their 3 wheeler bikes with their child on board while they work. I would say that there is much less general waste per person in China than there is in the west. Things like bottles are much more likely to be returned for their small deposit
If you google in Chinese "where does Beijing rubbish go" you'll find lots of reports about how kitchen waiste is sent to special treatment centers and turned into fertilizer and how great this process is. However, try to find anything about the landfill sites, and you'll just be left scratching your head. Sure, they're not advertised because they're not pretty places, but there should be no secrecy surrounding their location. Surely, people who live near these sites die of all sorts of diseases and I personally wouldn't want to accidently stumble upon a landfill site while exploring Beijing's outskirts. Why the mystery?
If you check your neighborhood there might be one closer than you think. Many places including Beijing the landfill sites will be closeby. I can look outside my window and see where all the rubbish is going. I've also had to take the rubbish and recyclable items to places that could use them both in Texas and in N. Carolina so I've seen many of these sites including in Beijing. Don't be surprised to find out they are closer than you think and no people who live near these sites don't die of diseases. Good Luck!
Wait until spring or summer, grab a bike, and follow the 3-wheeled trash wagons. They always "migrate" in the same directions during sunset, though I've never had the patience to follow them to see.
In Shenyang the 3 wheeled trikes take what trash is left over after various people have scavanged through it for recycleables to one of the many small compactor units that are scattered around the city. They again pick out anything of value (bottles, plastic, cardboard, metal) that has not yet been found and then compact what is now mainly organic waste. Where it goes from there I have no idea.
