Turning up the heat on incineration plans
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Huang Xiaoshan was sunbathing not far from the pyramids in Egypt when the urgent phone call arrived last August.
A neighbor called to tell him that the government would build a massive waste-burning plant near their homes and that the project might kick off at any time with no public notice.
The millionaire lawyer immediately flew back to Beijing so he could join protesting gray-haired residents. He hoisted anti-incineration banners while getting himself soaked on the rainy day.
"My personal life totally changed starting with that phone call," said the 48-year-old man.
"I was about to take a long break and enjoy a personal life with my family after years of breadwinning," said the Beijing native. "But the fact is, I felt I have led a life twice as difficult as a campaigner than being a schedule-filled lawyer."
Without soliciting public input, the authorities last August revealed the plan to build the $121 million Asuwei garbage incineration plant near the salubrious Xiaotangshan resort area in north Beijing. The area has been home to a growing number of socially-aware middle-class dwellers who have purchased high-end properties. The news got local residents all fired up.
Huang also owns a multimillion-yuan villa there.
"It is almost a natural reflex for me and other residents in the neighborhood to protest," Huang said. "We did not come to environmental issues at first, but we did know what would happen to our properties if a garbage plant was to be added near our homes."
Huang is now working full-time as an environmental activist, campaign leader, government adviser and a media darling after leading local residents in repeated campaigns.
He said he might fly to Guangzhou that week to visit local campaigners and government officials in Panyu district, where the issue of garbage disposal has also created a heated debate among the locals. He is also working with a nationally acclaimed investigative program on the national television network on the controversial issue.
Huang set two cell phones on the desk, one of which is for contacting the media and campaign sources only. The phone rang twice during the hour-long interview at a favorite coffee shop near the iconic Bird's Nest.
"I am not totally comfortable about becoming an environmental campaigner. But I'm acting on my own and I am getting used to the ups and downs," said Huang, smoking a branded, filtered cigarette.
The toughest moment came as a surprise and arrived one month after he joined the campaign. He was among seven protestors detained and questioned by police last September, when a small group of local residents rallied with anti-incineration banners outside an international sanitation expo at the Agricultural Exhibition Center in east Beijing.
It was raining heavily and Huang, without any cover, stood in the rain, holding a banner saying "Protesting Against Garbage Incineration in Asuwei". Police said they were disturbing the peace and detained them. Among those taken were two residents older than 60.
Asked whether the arrest was disgraceful for a successful lawyer like him, Huang said he never thought so.
"I felt like a revolutionary hero, being arrested but still seeking something noble. We all thought so," said Huang.
Earlier he told METRO that he felt sorry for the older people who were arrested, saying the harsh moves by the police were a source of discouragement for the campaign.
"We saw enough confrontations like this last year, but now it's time to end it and let the public have a place in policymaking procedures," he added, unable to conceal his disappointment.
After a brief detention, Huang expanded his campaign by creating a blog on a popular web portal and reached out to the media and government advisers.
Wang Weiping, a Beijing-based senior adviser who works closely with Huang, said the incineration controversy was never about technological issues, but rather is about whether people can place trust in the authorities.
"The authorities tried to hide something about garbage disposal from the public and this has gotten on people's nerves," Wang said.
Both Huang and Wang were invited to a government-funded fact-finding mission to Japan in February to learn more about the controversial technology with special focus on garbage treatment facilities and garbage classification in the developed country.
Environmental experts have said that garbage incineration technology is not perfect, it remains an effective way to manage massive amounts of waste produced by super-sized cities as long as the plants are operated safely. But the problem is that local authorities in China might not be able to operate the plants safely without strict monitoring.
Similar controversies also raged in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces last year. Opponents questioned whether the government could reduce and control the discharge of dangerous pollutants, including the toxic dioxin, without effective laws and stringent production methods.
Huang said he is not "totally against incineration". In Japan, garbage incineration plants are practically everywhere, he said. But the difference is that the Japanese authorities are extremely cautious with the burning issue and they also apply strict garbage classification to reduce waste production,Huang said.
"Our job is to watch the authorities and speak out when we find problems," he added.
Beijing's 20 million residents produce nearly 20,000 tons of garbage each day, which have overburdened its 23 waste treatment plants. The original plan for the municipal government was that the city needed 40 plants, including the proposed Asuwei project by 2015, with a budget of 10 billion yuan.
But with residents protesting louder than ever, many say the projects need better environmental reviews before their launch.
Huang is unsure whether a role as a grassroots hero will make a difference to the government's final decision on garbage disposal. But the Peking University graduate and descendent of military leaders said he is keeping a positive outlook.
"If the authorities abandon burning and rely on alternative technologies and recycling methods, that would be ideal. But because the authorities are still determined to push the issue, we should be happy if they compromise just a little in the end," he said.
"That will mean winning, in my view," Huang said.
Beijing's Vice-Mayor, Ji Lin, told METRO earlier that authorities are concerned about the environmental impact caused by the garbage.
"It is our job to convince the public the authorities value environmental safety above all factors," Ji said.
Local authorities last month unveiled proposed legislation covering garbage disposal and recycling. If approved, the regulations would be the first such laws on the controversial garbage issue in the capital.
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