Promoting urban green development by low-carbon treatment of domestic garbage
The goal of "double carbon" puts forward new requirements for municipal solid waste treatment and high-quality urban development. The low-carbon treatment of domestic waste is an important livelihood project, and it is the key support to accelerate the overall green transformation of economy and society and promote the green and high-quality development of cities. The Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green and Low-carbon Circular Economic System issued by the State Council has clearly defined the treatment of domestic waste. "peak carbon dioxide emissions Action Plan before 2030" clearly puts forward to "vigorously promote the reduction and recycling of domestic waste". In the whole process from the generation, collection, removal and final treatment of municipal solid waste, there is a carbon emission that can not be ignored, which is an important aspect that can not be ignored for the city to steadily promote carbon neutrality in peak carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, it is of great significance to accelerate the low-carbon treatment of municipal solid waste, and there is great potential for carbon emission reduction in the whole process from domestic waste production to treatment.
At present, due to the unreasonable and low-carbon production and lifestyle, the amount of urban garbage is still growing rapidly. To strengthen the low-carbon treatment of municipal solid waste, we should adopt a more scientific and reasonable technical and policy path, start with source reduction, reduce the generation of kitchen waste, paper and plastic waste, control the carbon emission in the garbage recovery and removal process, and effectively reduce the carbon emission in the whole life cycle of municipal solid waste, which will be more helpful to promote the carbon emission reduction of urban life, promote the green and high-quality development of cities, and accelerate the realization of the "double carbon" goal.
Reduce with kitchen waste
Be a prerequisite
Kitchen waste usually accounts for more than half of municipal solid waste and contains a lot of water, which is the prerequisite and important source to promote the low-carbon treatment of municipal solid waste. If domestic garbage is mixed with other garbage, it will seriously affect the post-treatment efficiency, reduce the energy recovery efficiency and increase the carbon emission during the treatment. Reducing kitchen waste from the source is the key path to reduce the carbon emission of municipal solid waste. First of all, we should actively promote clean vegetables to enter the city, and guide enterprises to complete vegetable grading, cutting and cleaning in vegetable production areas as far as possible through publicity and guidance, financial subsidies and technical improvement, so as to reduce the amount of kitchen waste entering the city from the source. Secondly, the enterprise responsibility system should be established, and the responsibilities of vegetable wholesale and retail enterprises, food processing enterprises and catering enterprises in the reduction of kitchen waste should be clearly defined, and the corresponding rewards and punishments should be given to the degree of completion of enterprises, so as to maximize the on-site disposal of garbage and reduce the generation rate of kitchen waste to a minimum. Third, promote the special channels and equipment for kitchen waste treatment in key enterprises of kitchen waste, reduce the water content of kitchen waste and reduce the difficulty of final treatment. Fourth, encourage citizens to control the total amount of food they buy each time, with the principle of eating enough, eating well and not wasting; Encourage citizens to implement the CD-ROM action, pay attention to health and wellness, avoid waste on the tip of the tongue, and do a good job in special recycling of household kitchen waste.
Reduce plastic waste with waste paper
Be a key area
Waste paper and plastics are the fastest growing parts of municipal solid waste, and they are also the types of waste with the highest carbon content per unit mass. Because both of them are industrial products, they will also produce a lot of life-cycle carbon emissions in their production process. The rapid growth of paper plastics will bring great hidden dangers to control the carbon emission of domestic garbage. From the aspects of product design, manufacturing and use, it is a long-term strategy to strictly control the production of paper plastic waste. First of all, the producer responsibility system should be established. From the perspective of product design, the corresponding reduction principles and targets should be formulated for product design and production enterprises. Consumer goods and product packaging design and production enterprises should be required to minimize the use of paper, plastic and other packaging products in product design, and the packaging design should be as conducive to recycling as possible. Secondly, reduce carbon emissions in the production process of plastic paper, actively innovate the production process, adopt low-carbon production process, and reduce energy consumption. Thirdly, reduce the garbage generated during the use of paper plastic products, promote enterprises and institutions to realize paperless office, and really reduce the use of paper in the office process; Promote consumer enterprises and consumers to reduce the use of paper plastic products such as disposable plates through policies such as separate charges for disposable tableware; Encourage the use and promotion of degradable corn plastics and biological products by reducing the production water fee.
To strengthen the classification of domestic waste.
Be an important starting point
Carrying out domestic waste classification is the only way to reduce urban environmental pollution, reduce resource and energy consumption, build a good living environment, and promote the green, high-quality and sustainable development of the city. We should scientifically guide residents to strengthen the classification of domestic waste, reduce the negative impact on the ecological environment, improve the utilization rate of resources, and form a green and low-carbon lifestyle. Scientific classification and recovery of domestic waste is a necessary way for recycling resources and low-carbon treatment at the end, which can effectively improve the recycling rate of resources and reduce carbon emissions. We should speed up the establishment and improvement of the incentive system for domestic waste sorting and recycling, encourage more enterprises to participate in waste sorting, recycling operation and technological innovation, and provide life services such as door-to-door sorting to realize the life cycle service of waste recycling; Establish an incentive mechanism for urban residents’ garbage sorting, introduce and improve the point system, and realize garbage recycling through mobile phone applications, so as to obtain corresponding points and stimulate the enthusiasm and initiative of citizens to participate in sorting and recycling; Introduce new garbage sorting equipment, such as smart trash can, intelligent induction broadcasting system, "bag breaker" and automatic sorting station, to help residents realize garbage sorting more conveniently. At the same time, establish a strict punishment mechanism, and strengthen supervision and punishment for acts that do not classify garbage as required. In addition, strengthen the education and publicity of domestic waste classification and green and low-carbon development, so that the concept of green, low-carbon and environmental protection is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Carbon emission reduction by garbage removal
Be the key link
Carbon emission reduction of garbage removal is an indispensable key link in garbage disposal and an important hub connecting garbage classification, recycling and final disposal. We should promote the development and use of new energy transportation equipment, replace closed garbage transportation vehicles, and effectively reduce the carbon emissions of transportation equipment. Improve the efficiency of intermediate transportation of garbage, systematically design the placement positions of trash cans, closed stations and transfer stations, optimize the garbage removal lines and methods, and establish a scientific and reasonable urban garbage removal system. Strengthen the environmental sanitation management of garbage transfer stations, improve the transfer efficiency of urban domestic garbage, encourage garbage recovery and removal enterprises to use big data technology to provide new garbage removal services such as online booking and door-to-door recycling, comprehensively optimize the garbage removal process, and promote the green and low-carbon garbage removal link.
To innovate the final treatment method
For strong support
As the most direct carbon emission link in the process of domestic waste recycling, the classification degree, water content and treatment method of waste will affect the carbon emission of final treatment. We should take innovative final treatment methods of municipal solid waste as a strong support, adopt advanced, green and low-carbon treatment technologies and methods, speed up the elimination of the traditional simple landfill mode, and effectively promote the recycling and low-carbon treatment in the final treatment process by more resource-intensive, green and low-carbon, recycling and eco-friendly treatment methods. On the one hand, we should rationally plan and establish a comprehensive domestic waste treatment base, optimize the final treatment structure of domestic waste such as incineration power generation, sanitary landfill and biological fermentation, realize zero landfill of municipal waste as soon as possible, introduce new generation information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to enhance the intelligent level of waste treatment equipment, improve waste terminal treatment equipment and improve the efficiency of waste terminal treatment. On the other hand, we should improve the power generation efficiency of garbage incineration and biogas production efficiency by fermentation, introduce special equipment such as kitchen waste pretreatment and low calorific value garbage incineration which are more suitable for classified garbage treatment, and use new treatment technologies such as garbage pyrolysis and plasma treatment to improve the energy output efficiency of electricity, biogas and hot steam, realize smarter and more efficient energy recycling, promote traditional energy substitution, reduce carbon emissions in energy production, and promote urban green, low-carbon and high-quality development. (The first author is an assistant researcher at the Institute of Urban Studies of Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, and the second author is the director and researcher of the Institute of Urban Studies of Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.)