Villagers battle illegal garbage dumping

Residents of Shicao village in Chaoyang district complained Monday that illegal garbage burning has ruined the local environment and affected their health.

Local administration and environment authorities have said they have received complaints and are working on a plan to tackle the problem.

Shicao village, in Dougezhuang county in southeastern Chaoyang, is home to large numbers of migrant workers and small-scale factories.

The residents have alleged that garbage is being dumped and burnt every day along Shicao Lu, the main road in the village.

One resident surnamed Wang posted a photo of a burning garbage heap with a thick plume of smoke emanating from it on her Sina microblog on March 15. She wrote that when everyone is concerned about PM2.5 pollution, three piles full of trash are being burned on the village roadside every morning which causes an unbearable stink.

Wang said that the three garbage-burning sites have been there for years.

"I called city administration many times since last year, but nothing got changed. I feel my lungs and throat are uncomfortable because of the smell," she said.

Along Shicao Lu on Monday, there were around four garbage heaps full of discarded plastic lunch boxes, plastic bags and food waste on the south side of the street. White smoke was rising from amongst the trash.

One resident surnamed Zhang, who has lived along the road for years, said that the garbage dumping and burning has had a terrible impact on their lives.

"We dumped garbage on these sites but we also paid a trash cleaning service accordingly," she said, noting that most of the garbage there comes from trucks dumping garbage from elsewhere everyday.

Zhang said that sometimes the trees on the south side of the road caught fire, posing a danger to the high voltage lines just above the trees, before local residents put out the fires.

"My 2-month-old son has bronchitis because of the constant burning," she said.

An employee from the city administration and law enforcement office of Dougezhuang county, surnamed Zhao, said they will clear all the garbage dumping sites away and build proper dumping sites if needed.

"The garbage dumping and burning is illegal and those who do so will be fined if they are caught," he said, noting that they will dispatch staff there to ensure the law enforcement takes place.

Feng Yongfeng, founder of the environmental NGO Nature University, said that dumping and burning garbage in villages around Beijing is common.

"One reason for that is because the duty of Beijing administration authorities concerning street management is limited," he said.

"Some villages are literally taking care of their streets themselves. They have to pay if they want their trash to be cleaned up, but since they are migrant workers, it's hard to collect the fees," he said.