Garbage collected in east China's Fujian Province will be burnt to generate electricity beginning this month.

Sources from the Fujian provincial department of construction said over the weekends that the province's first garbage power plant has been established in Jinjiang. The department said 99 percent of garbage can be utilized in the power plant.

Everyday, Fujian produces about 6,400 tons of garbage, of whichabout 1,600-1,800 tons were from the provincial capital city of Fuzhou.

Scientific test shows that about 55 percent of solid waste is combustible. If each person produces 450 kilograms of garbage eachyear, a city of 300,000 population can produce about 135,000 tons of garbage in a year, which makes it possible to establish a garbage power plant in the city.

According to the urban planning of Fujian Province, 90 percent of its garbage will be treated into innocuous matter by the year 2005, and the proportion will go up to 95 percent by the year 2010.

During the period of 2006-2015, the total installed generating capacity of the province's garbage power plants will reach 120,000kilowatts. The plants will be capable of producing 540 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year with about 2.5 million tons of garbage, according to the provincial urban plan.

To meet the goal, another garbage power plant with 16,000 kilowatts of installed generating capacity will be established in Fuzhou by the end of 2006. The plant will be the largest in the province, which is capable to treat about 1,000 tons of garbage each day.

Source: Xinhua