Old mine may house garbage-burning plant

A controversial waste treatment project once slated for Liulitun, Haidian district, may be recycled and built instead in an isolated mountainous area far from populated parts of the city, a Beijing News report said yesterday.

The idea of building the garbage incinerator in Liulitun was shelved after residents in the densely-populated Haidian district strongly opposed the project in 2006. The possible new plan calls for the facility to be built in the remote area northwest of Beijing by 2014.

The newspaper report came two days after Ji Lin, Beijing's executive vice-mayor, told METRO the authorities were looking for abandoned mines for such waste treatment facilities. Beijing produces around 18,000 tons of garbage a day.