18.5 Conclusion
The rural economy of China has developed rapidly, consumption has spread to rural
areas, and waste is becoming an apparent problem. However, the conventional
centralized processing method of “collecting in village, transferring from town,
processing in prefecture” has a high transfer cost and does not allow local resource
recycling. The current Chinese PPP method is expected to provide a solution to the
household waste problem in rural areas because it can utilize the capital of private
companies and their technologies. However, the investment required is huge and the
cost recovery period is long. Therefore, there are limits to the possible responses
from private companies. The Pujiang model utilizes the conventional PPP model and
chooses the way the government buys public services from companies to solve the
shortcomings of the conventional PPP model. This establishes a government-civilian
partnership and a household waste disposal system in which all residents can
participate. In this model, the government implements a party-plus system, thoroughly instructing residents on how to separate, supervise, and manage waste,
increasing the waste separation rate with a simple and easy-to-understand waste
separation method. The company has succeeded in reducing the amount of raw
garbage going to landfill. Instead, garbage is recycled; as high proportions of raw
garbage characterize household waste in rural areas, the waste collection process
centers on raw garbage. The waste disposal method changed from centralized to
decentralized due to successful resource recovery from food waste. The life span of
the landfill was doubled, and transportation and disposal costs drastically reduced.
By providing organic fertilizer produced from raw garbage to residents free of
charge, local soil restoration, organic agriculture, and development of the tourism
industry have been promoted. (Annual tourism revenue in 2015 was 49.61 billion
CNY, an increase of 75.2% on the previous year, and Zhejiang is now in the top ten
provinces for tourism.) The Pujiang model has shifted toward recycling of waste by
constructing a regional recycling system in cooperation with the government, private
companies, and residents.
In the future, this model will be useful as a waste disposal method in both other
rural areas of China and other regions. However, the reduction of waste from source
is still insufficient in Pujiang, and it is mainly government finance that funds waste
disposal. In the future, in order to reduce the financial burden to the government and
the environmental load, a volume-rate waste system should be introduced, which can
curb waste emissions, overhaul the system of related agencies operating enacted
laws, and promote effective utilization of organic resources from food waste (such as
using livestock feed or biogas). The continuity of this model from the perspective of
economic, environmental, and societal aspects was evaluated by looking at the
cooperation of the administration, private enterprises, and residents. Key characteristics of this model, which have implications for policy development in other
regions, are (1) waste reduction and recycling (mainly organic fertilizer); (2) reduction of waste collection and processing costs; (3) soil restoration and improvement of
agricultural production environment; (4) creation of areas such as new tourist
338
K. Cheon et al.
The rural economy of China has developed rapidly, consumption has spread to rural
areas, and waste is becoming an apparent problem. However, the conventional
centralized processing method of “collecting in village, transferring from town,
processing in prefecture” has a high transfer cost and does not allow local resource
recycling. The current Chinese PPP method is expected to provide a solution to the
household waste problem in rural areas because it can utilize the capital of private
companies and their technologies. However, the investment required is huge and the
cost recovery period is long. Therefore, there are limits to the possible responses
from private companies. The Pujiang model utilizes the conventional PPP model and
chooses the way the government buys public services from companies to solve the
shortcomings of the conventional PPP model. This establishes a government-civilian
partnership and a household waste disposal system in which all residents can
participate. In this model, the government implements a party-plus system, thoroughly instructing residents on how to separate, supervise, and manage waste,
increasing the waste separation rate with a simple and easy-to-understand waste
separation method. The company has succeeded in reducing the amount of raw
garbage going to landfill. Instead, garbage is recycled; as high proportions of raw
garbage characterize household waste in rural areas, the waste collection process
centers on raw garbage. The waste disposal method changed from centralized to
decentralized due to successful resource recovery from food waste. The life span of
the landfill was doubled, and transportation and disposal costs drastically reduced.
By providing organic fertilizer produced from raw garbage to residents free of
charge, local soil restoration, organic agriculture, and development of the tourism
industry have been promoted. (Annual tourism revenue in 2015 was 49.61 billion
CNY, an increase of 75.2% on the previous year, and Zhejiang is now in the top ten
provinces for tourism.) The Pujiang model has shifted toward recycling of waste by
constructing a regional recycling system in cooperation with the government, private
companies, and residents.
In the future, this model will be useful as a waste disposal method in both other
rural areas of China and other regions. However, the reduction of waste from source
is still insufficient in Pujiang, and it is mainly government finance that funds waste
disposal. In the future, in order to reduce the financial burden to the government and
the environmental load, a volume-rate waste system should be introduced, which can
curb waste emissions, overhaul the system of related agencies operating enacted
laws, and promote effective utilization of organic resources from food waste (such as
using livestock feed or biogas). The continuity of this model from the perspective of
economic, environmental, and societal aspects was evaluated by looking at the
cooperation of the administration, private enterprises, and residents. Key characteristics of this model, which have implications for policy development in other
regions, are (1) waste reduction and recycling (mainly organic fertilizer); (2) reduction of waste collection and processing costs; (3) soil restoration and improvement of
agricultural production environment; (4) creation of areas such as new tourist
338
K. Cheon et al.