Ten-year changing history of waste incineration in China
The waste incineration industry in China can be traced back to the late 1980s, and it has a history of more than 30 years. If the electricity price subsidy issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2012 is taken as the node, the development history of waste incineration in China can be divided into "the first two decades" and "the last ten years".
In the late 1980s, foreign grate furnace technology was introduced by the high price to solve the problem of low calorific value of garbage that could not be burned. In 2005, several domestic projects were put into operation one after another. In 2012, the state introduced the subsidy policy for electricity consumption, and garbage incineration ushered in the first wave of investment boom in the "neighborhood avoidance" site selection dispute. After 2012, the waste incineration power generation industry in China ushered in the "golden decade" with rapid development. This decade is the best and worst era, in terms of garbage incineration power generation industry.
On the one hand, under the policy direction of "zero landfill" of primary waste, the waste incineration process with small land occupation, prominent reduction and dual benefits of power generation and pollution control has been "favored" by the competent authorities of the industry, and a series of favorable policies have been issued to promote its rapid development. During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan and the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, the waste incineration power generation industry in China ushered in a period of development, and the waste incineration power generation facilities put into operation, built and under construction reached a record high.
On the other hand, with the decline of the state subsidy policy, the tightening of local finance, the fierce market competition, the increasing saturation of new projects and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the waste incineration power generation industry in China has ushered in an "inflection point" in recent years, and the market demand has gradually subsided from large and medium-sized cities to county and rural waste treatment, and some areas have also begun to have problems such as overcapacity, arrears, insufficient garbage into the furnace, and "insufficient food" for projects put into operation.
Throughout the development of this decade, policies, standards, regulations and business models are changing all the time, from landfill retreat to "bottom-guarantee" to the strong rise of incineration, from central financial support to landslide to complete withdrawal, from urban environmental infrastructure to county-level short-board strengths and weaknesses, from large incinerators with a tonnage of 1,000 tons to small incineration facilities. In the future, in order to meet the needs of the new situation of the world, especially the changes in fiscal and taxation incentive policies, the increasingly strict pollution control, and the changes in the composition of domestic waste caused by garbage sorting and collection, the industry will face more arduous tasks. In this extremely changing and challenging industrial background, in this uncertain era of opportunities and challenges, reducing costs, improving efficiency, and enhancing core competitiveness and risk resistance will be the further efforts of the industry.