Shitang’s sweet smell of environmental success
Shitang village in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, is surrounded by forests and streams, and is home to more than 100 “happy farms” and 40 small hotels.
But five years ago, the residents were mostly elderly people and left-behind children after their parents moved to China’s major cities to work.
In 2012, Xu Hongyan, who was 24, along with other young workers returned to the village to set up a tourism business.
It was the start of a new era — an era plagued by serious infrastructure problems as the increase in tourism overloaded the drainage system.
“I heard visitors complaining about the smells of domestic sewage from the wastewater pond,” Xu recalled. “I was worried that our businesses would be badly hit.”
But last year, Coca-Cola came up with a solution that delighted the residents of Shitang.
“I thought they had come to sell us drinks,” Xu recalled. “But we were shocked to learn they were here to manage our waste water.
“We became even more curious when we were told they would clean the water with plants,” Xu added.
Coca-Cola’s Happy Farmland Project used artificial wetland to process the sewage pond.
The whole procedure was part of a program backed by the Ministry of Commerce, the International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges, and the United Nations’ Development Program to combat rural pollution.
In November, the Nanjing Water Affairs Bureau approved the water quality in Shitang. Before the all clear, Zhang Jiantao, vice-president of Coca-Cola China and South Korea, had visited the village five times in 12 months.
“Projects vary from place to place,” Zhang said, adding that the Happy Farmland program covers more than 30 projects across China.
“Each project is unique. We do not copy from previous programs,” he said.
Last year, up to 1.9 million people were involved in the Happy Farmland Project.
Many worked in “happy farms”, which cater to visitors keen to pick and then buy homegrown produce such as vegetables.
Other villagers involved in the program run hotels and restaurants in the nationwide project, which combats environmental problems such as sewage spills.
In fact, the Happy Farmland Project is just one of nearly 20 ongoing water conservation programs rolled out by Coca-Cola China.
Already it has achieved its 100 percent water recycling target in the world’s second largest economy six years earlier than planned.
This was part of the soft drink giant’s global water conservation strategy, which was launched in 2004 and is known as “Reduce, Recycle and Replenish”.
In the past 10 years, CocaCola has recycled 25.2 billion liters of water in China.
Dotted around Shitang are six Coca-Cola vending machines, which have been donated to poverty-stricken families in the village to improve their incomes.
For Xu, the setting is just perfect. She now runs a small hotel with nine rooms, as well as a restaurant, and often walks with her son along the brook that was once contaminated.
“It is great to see the fish and frogs again in the water,” Xu said.