Arrests made in garbage dumping

Twenty-five suspects have been arrested on charges of environmental pollution following two cases of garbage being dumped in or along the Yangtze River.

More than 100,000 metric tons of garbage was illegally dumped or landfilled into the Yangtze River estuarywatersandsurrounding areas last year, according to Xinhua News Agency.

In one case, three suspects signed a contract with the Environmental Sanitation Management Center in Haiyan county, Zhejiang province, but more than 90,000 metric tons of household garbage from the county was either illegally landfilled at sites in Huzhou,Zhejiangprovince, and Wuhu, Anhui province, or thrown into the Nantong section of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu province.

In the other case, the suspect, surnamed Shen, signed an agreement with the nearby Haining Environmental Sanitation Management Office in Zhejiang province to transport household waste to garbage incineration plants for disposal.

Shen later subcontracted the project for 200 yuan ($29) per ton. The subcontractor collected more than 10,990 tons of trash, transporting and dumping 9,747 tons of it into the Yangtze River using cargo ships between November and December to cut costs.

The illegal dumping caused serious water pollution and economic losses of more than 300,000 yuan, according to Xinhua.

Garbage disposal has been a great challenge for all cities.

For instance, because of citizen opposition prompted by environmental pollution concerns, Haiyan now is the only county in Jiaxing city with no waste incineration plant. The county has to transport its garbage to disposal plants in other cities or provinces, China Youth News revealed in an earlier report.