Finding a "green solution" for the disposal of Beijing's garbage in the run-up to next year's Olympic Games was a hot topic over the weekend as environmental experts discussed methods to improve the capital's waste management efficiency.

"We must mobilize the whole society to counter garbage pollution so as to create a green Beijing Olympic Games," said Dong Suocheng, a senior official with the China Society of Natural Resources, at the forum held on Sunday.

To ease garbage pollution, citizens need to raise their awareness of environmental protection and change their lifestyle and consumption habits so as to reduce total waste output, the famed environmental conservation scholar said. In addition, the garbage processing industry has to be developed in a more scientific way.

Statistics released at the forum revealed China's urban solid waste storage volume had exceeded seven billion tons and occupied a storage area as large as 600 million square meters.

About 250 million tons of garbage are collected from more than 600 Chinese cities annually and the volume is increasing by eight to ten percent each year. More than 200 cities also suffer from "garbage pollution", a term referring to waste that cannot be recycled.

Dong stressed that garbage collection, classification, transport and processing need to be conducted more professionally and with greater attention to conservation.

He said about 5.382 million tons of garbage was collected in Beijing in 2006, 92.5 percent of which was recycled.

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2007)