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Sink disposer seen as tool to reduce garbage

OFFICIALS have found a solution to the city's mounting problem of unsorted domestic waste by encouraging local homes to install a garbage disposer under the kitchen sink.

Shanghai's water and environment authorities told a forum yesterday that the use of an electric disposer has been popular in American homes and can relieve the burden of the city's garbage treatment plants.

The disposer can shred food waste into pieces small enough to pass through plumbing for treatment with sewage.

If 10 percent of Shanghai families install the disposers, the daily discharge of domestic waste can be cut by more than 70 percent, said Dong Bin, professor of Tongji University's National Research Center for Urban Pollution Control. He made a research on 100 local families using disposers.

Dong said more than 60 percent of the 20,000 tons of garbage generated in the city every day is food waste. It contains a lot of liquid and oil, making garbage stink and hard to control burning temperatures during incineration.

Zhu Shiqing, deputy director of the Shanghai Water Authority, suggested promoting disposers to families in newly-built, high-class residential communities.

The average price of a US-made kitchen garbage disposer is about 5,000 yuan (US$752).



 

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