Many counties in China are actively promoting household waste sorting and recycling, aiming to convert waste into clean electricity through incineration.
China launched its fourth national urban household waste sorting publicity week, running from May 25 to 31.
According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, waste sorting now covers virtually all residential communities in China's 297 prefecture-level cities and above.
The counties are also joining the efforts of reducing waste. In Dangshan County of east China's Anhui Province, local authorities are distributing brochures and offering on-site guidance to encourage residents to sort their garbage into four categories -- kitchen waste, recyclable waste, hazardous waste and other waste.
"We routinely implement garbage classification, collection and disposal work on a daily basis, establishing a complete closed-loop system from collection to transfer and eliminating problems such as garbage backlog and random dumping. We also ensure that all domestic waste is transferred to power generation companies for standardized incineration," said Chen Fei, director of the Environmental Sanitation Management Office of Dangshan County.
Dangshan County has built a comprehensive waste management system covering sorting, collection and incineration. Its waste-to-energy facilities can process 500 tons of waste per day, with an annual capacity exceeding 190,000 tons. The plant generates more than 45 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to meet the daily electricity needs of tens of thousands of local residents.
Meanwhile, Wuchuan Autonomous County of southwest China's Guizhou Province has established 14 domestic waste transfer stations, supported by 80 garbage collection vehicles and 84 sanitation workers. The county also uses a digital big data system to monitor waste collection in real time, making environmental governance more precise and efficient.
Refined garbage sorting system turns waste into clean energy
As the diplomatic engagement between the United States and Iran continues despite a faltering ceasefire, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran is prepared to use military power to break the U.S. maritime blockade should the negotiations collapse or run on too long.
Mohsen Rezaee, who also currently serves as a member of the Iranian Expediency Discernment Council, struck a confident tone about Iran's current trajectory in an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Tehran on Wednesday.
He said the country has withstood over two decades of crippling sanctions and continued to move forward.
"We have been under sanctions for more than 20 years. The number of sanctions likely exceeds 2,000, targeting individuals, enterprises, corporations, ships, insurance companies, and even foreign countries that interacted with us. However, we have managed to find solutions to neutralize these sanctions, and we will continue to do so moving forward," he said.
He said Iran aims to ease the sanctions burden through talks with the U.S., although at the same time, he said, Iran is ready to shift to a military response if the path to a peaceful resolution closes.
"Furthermore, we will compel the U.S. to lift these sanctions. We will force the U.S. to end the maritime blockade -- either through negotiations or, should they resist, through direct action and we will attack U.S. warships. Therefore, despite all the pressures, the future of our economy is bright and promising, while the future of the US economy is bleak," he said.
While any new war against Iran would be a dead end, the best way out for the U.S. is to continue talks, according to the senior official.
"We have prepared ourselves so that if the maritime blockade continues beyond a certain timeframe, we will launch an attack and break the blockade. The Americans have no choice but to negotiate. Continuing this war is a journey into a very dark tunnel for the United States. The more America chooses to fight, the deeper it enters a tunnel with no end. Yet for us, the path is perfectly clear. America is moving toward us in the dark, while we are monitoring their every move," he said.
Former IRGC chief says Iran ready to break U.S. naval blockade by force if talks fail
