My Turn

Waste management lessons from China

China is one of the countries in the world experiencing rapid economic growth. It has grown from being one of the least developed countries which beg for aid to one which donates to less privileged countries in the world. But this development has come at the expense of the environment. According to The Economist, China is the world‘s worst polluter and biggest investor in green energy.

China’s population is over one billion, the largest in the world. Not surprisingly, land for settlement is not available and neither is space for waste disposal. Due to the country’s high population, the Chinese Government now restricts child bearing to one child per family! This is to reduce the pressure of human activity on the environment which is currently very high.

Beijing, China’s capital, has the most polluted air in the world. The sky looks foggy especially as the sun sets. This smog is due to high air pollution. An article in The Economist even says one can smell and choke on the polluted air (http://www.economist.com/news/).

During my recent training at China’s Resource Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, a Chinese student doctor remarked that China is paying the price for not having foresight on the cost of doing business without following proper environmental protection measures. From the student’s talk, I learnt that as China was developing, it did not consider how to effectively discharge industrial waste, in the process damaging the environment.

Despite the presence of laws and policies on environmental protection, lapses in enforcement and implementation resulted in businesses and the general population paying a blind eye to environmental protection.

Over time, the environment became strained by industrial waste. Despite the country having many water sources, only a few of these can be used for drinking and domestic water. In Beijing, drinking water directly from a tap is risky. Poor sanitation measures also contributed to the spread of water-borne diseases in past years.

But now China has woken up to avert the situation, though at a huge cost. Each year China is spending billions of US dollars to treat water, air and manage land pollution. Control measures are now being enforced but many say ‘it is a little too late. ‘

Waste water treatment technologies are being put in place, environmental laws and policies implemented and enforced. Government has stopped meddling in the Environmental Agency (EA) activities and gives the necessary support to promote a safe environment.

Waste treatment is now producing biogas like methane which is used for cooking and running simple pumps at the wastewater treatment plants. This has benefitted the government in the sense that demand for use of electricity is reduced as most of the energy sources come from the gases produced during biological treatment of the wastewater. Electricity is only used for lighting and air conditioners. Put simply, China is making good of a pretty bad situation.

Coming back home, Malawi is now on the same path as China. Population is growing rapidly and waste is poorly managed. Our cities are an eye sore.

Resources are used poorly and although we have environmental policies and laws, they are hardly enforced. Industrial pollution is not controlled, resulting in the pollution of rivers.

Let us take the example of Mudi River. In the 1990s it had clean water that was safe even for household use. But over the past two decades, the river stinks, industries and houses along the river banks dispose their waste directly into it.

Sanitation in the cities is another major concern. Our cities are littered and trashy, and not much action is being taken by our city councils to improve the situation. Yet, when sanitation-related disease outbreaks occur, billions of kwachas are spent in treating the cases. Why can’t government be proactive and invest the money in preventive measures?

Malawi needs to make environmental management a priority. Malawians should work together with city councils to achieve a cleaner and safer environment. We need to complement each other’s efforts. There is also need for government to enforce laws and to allow councils to work independently.

The author is a water quality and environmental specialist.

Related Articles

One Comment

Check Also
Close
Back to top button