China’s Controversial Boom of Waste-Incineration

• In Event: Evolving Governance Strategies in Policymaking in China

Abstract

China has experienced an unprecedented surge in waste generation nowadays. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a significant but relatively lesser-known contributor to climate change. With the increasing amount of MSW, waste management has become one of the most complex and cost-intensive public services, posing a significant challenge for many countries worldwide, including China. In response to this problem, the Chinese government has turned to waste incineration, i.e., burning garbage. However, incineration is considered a controversial waste treatment method due to its significant environmental hazards and enormously high costs. Given the environmental and health concerns associated with incineration, numerous incineration projects in China have faced widespread social resistance. That said, incineration projects have blossomed across China. How to understand the boom of an environmentally controversial industry? This becomes even more puzzling when considering that the Chinese government has placed greater attention to environmental issues and prioritized the "construction of ecological civilization" on the national agenda. Based on decade-long fieldwork and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this research addresses this puzzle through scrutinizing how the central government’s pro-incineration policies have been effectively implemented on the ground in the name of constructing ecological civilization. Despite the framing, environmental rationality may not be prioritized in the promotion of the incineration industry, which can bode ill for the environment. By examining the incineration boom, this study will have theoretical or empirical implications for advancing the literature on ecological modernization, authoritarian environmentalism, and science and technology studies.

Author

• Yao Li, Florida State University