Factory converting trash to cash

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June 10, 2019

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Factory converting trash to cash

Source: Xinhua | 00:00 UTC+8 June 10, 2019 |

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Around 7am, trucks loaded with tons of chicken bones, heads and intestines arrive at a waste disposal plant and dump them into an underground container through a small hole.

“It’s like filling oil tanks in a gas station,” said Jiang Haijun, general manager of the plant in Guangze County, southeast China’s Fujian Province.

The waste is then shunted into a chain of cauldrons and tubes in a separate room for high-temperature sterilization, steaming and drying. Five hours later, the waste is converted into fish feed.

The plant, which is able to treat 300 tons of chicken waste each day, is owned by Fujian Sunner Group, one of Asia’s largest chicken breeders which is headquartered in Guangze.

The poultry giant is the supplier of chicken products for KFC and McDonald’s on the Chinese mainland.

Last year, Sunner’s breeding farms in Guangze produced 300 million broilers along with 60,000 tons of waste, which was turned into 8,000 tons of animal feed by the plant.

The feed was sold at up to 13,000 yuan (US$1,880) per ton.

“It’s an eco-friendly way to treat poultry waste, let alone making a profit,” Jiang said.

“We might risk polluting groundwater by landfill or spreading diseases by dumping untreated waste into fish ponds,” Jiang added.

Jiang’s waste-disposal facility offers a glimpse into Sunner’s efforts to go waste-free.

Fu Longrun, vice director of Guangze’s bureau of ecology and environment, said Sunner’s model of the circular economy is indicative of Guangze’s efforts to make full use of solid waste and build a zero-waste city.

Enterprises in Guangze have developed techniques to convert bamboo scraps into charcoal sticks and turn construction waste into manufactured sand.

Guangze is among the 11 cities and five areas in China selected by the Chinese government last month to pilot waste-free programs. Other participating cities include Shenzhen, downtown of Chongqing and Sanya in Hainan Province.

About 10 billion tons of solid waste are produced annually in China, according to Du Xiangwan, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The amount of waste, if poorly handled, will be a huge burden for the environment and a waste of resources, said Du.

“The long-term goal is to minimize solid waste production, maximize the use of trash-recycled resources and ensure safe disposal,” Du said.

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Factory converting trash to cash

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