Sponge city project turns trash into cash
Print Edition
A HUGE amount of ceramic waste in east China鈥檚 Jiangxi Province has been transformed into a huge pile of cash as part of the sponge city project.
A sponge city is one in which urban precipitation is absorbed into the groundwater rather than running off into watercourses. The idea is to make best use of rainwater and prevent flooding. These sponge cities typically feature roof gardens, large numbers of trees, vast areas of lawns and permeable pavement.
Luo, 60, is president of the Longfa Industrial Company Ltd in Jiangxi鈥檚 Pingxiang City. The company is one of the biggest ceramics makers in the city that produces about 70 percent of China鈥檚 industrial tiles.
鈥淭he company has been doing great business for 17 years,鈥 Luo said. 鈥淏ut the waste we produced was a big headache.鈥
High levels of quality control mean that while churning out ceramics, Luo鈥檚 company also generates tons of waste, including substandard bricks, floor tiles and ceramic balls. Mountains of waste pile up behind the factories.
鈥淚 had to pay people to take the waste away,鈥 Luo said.
A big change came in 2014, when Luo traveled to Europe and was walking on footpaths made of water permeable bricks. 鈥淭he streets were dry even after heavy downpours, whereas in China, there is always flooding in cities,鈥 Luo said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I realized there was huge market for permeable bricks, and that the ceramic waste was just the material needed.鈥
On his return, Luo began research on how to transform his waste into bricks. A year later, the government named Pingxiang as one of 16 鈥渟ponge cities鈥 to pilot ways of tackling the dual challenges of water shortages and urban flooding. By then, Luo鈥檚 bricks made of the ceramic trash were ready for mass production.
鈥淭he bricks were in high demand as soon as the sponge city project was launched,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 no longer needed to pay to clear the garbage behind the factories. On the contrary, people were now paying me to take it away.鈥
According to Luo, 1 square meter of the bricks can absorb about 20kg of water.
鈥淲hen the weather is dry, the bricks can release vapor into the air, which increases humidity and fights pollution,鈥 Luo said.
In Pingxiang, about 200,000 tons of industrial ceramic waste are produced each year.
Luo鈥檚 company turns around 240 tons of that into bricks every day, which 鈥渘ot only makes money, but protects the environment.鈥
According to the sponge cities plan, 20 percent of cities should have modern sewerage systems and infrastructure allowing efficient rainwater absorption by 2020, with the number rising to 80 percent by 2030.
This means even higher demand for Luo鈥檚 鈥済arbage鈥 bricks. His production line, which can make 100,000 tons of bricks a year, is in full swing, and bricks have been delivered to Ningxia, Hunan and Guangxi. A new production line is already in operation. 鈥淭he bricks are mainly for municipal projects to make cities spongier,鈥 Luo said.
He is looking for other ways to make even more bricks.
鈥淧ingxiang has many steel-makers, and the quantity of waste they produce is equally staggering,鈥 Luo said. 鈥淚 plan to make steel waste into water permeable bricks, too.鈥
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