Deploys more than 100 cannons to blast deodorants into the capital's landfills as warmer weather causes more waste to rot
Deploys more than 100 cannons to blast deodorants into the capital's landfills as warmer weather causes more waste to rot
ADVERTISEMENT
The deodorant cannons were invented by employees at the Gao'antun Garbage Landfill Plant, in Beijing's suburbs, after local officials were forced to apologise for the foul smells coming from the dump.
 |
| The high-pressure guns can spray dozens of litres of fragrance per minute over a distance of up to 50m |
Other devices, such as odour-eating sheets were also brought in, along with a machine that extracts the foul-smelling gases and uses them to generate electricity.
"By employing these measures, and other measures we hope to control the bad smell.
We reduced the pollution at this landfill to the lowest level," said Zhang Quanhong, section chief of the Beijing Chaoyang District Garbage Disposal Centre at the Gao'antun Landfill.
Gao'antun Landfill is just one of the many sites struggling to process the mountains of rubbish produced by China's heaving capital.
Beijing's 17.6 million residents produce 18,400 tonnes of household garbage daily, 90 per cent of which is dumped in the 13 landfills dispersed around the city, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
The cannon, officially termed 'high pressure long-range deodorant sprays', blast a liquid created from plant extract onto waste arriving at the site.
The biological compound neutralises the smell, its creators say, and the fragrance-covered rubbish is then buried under odour eating covering sheets and more deodorant is sprayed on top.
But not everyone is impressed.
Residents of a housing compound near the garbage dump say they have yet to see any results.
"Whenever the bad smell comes we are all coughing. At night we all wake up coughing.
Even when you are sleeping soundly, you can wake up coughing. Everyone opens their windows in the summer and there is that smell," said resident Geng Haiou, scrunching her nose at the memory.
Waste management experts have also expressed doubts over the deodorant scheme.
"The cannons are stench-neutralising tools that should be used under special circumstances. But we cannot keep blasting all day long.
We do not have that many cannons," said Nie Yongfeng, Professor of Environmental and Engineering Sciences at Tsinghua University.
| Waste Issues |
| Beijing's waste problem and China's is expanding as fast as its economy, at about 8 per cent each year. |
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
