Fair compensation and trust can dispel concerns about waste plants

THERE ARE OFTEN PROTESTS BY RESIDENTS when a local government announces it is planning to build a waste incinerator or sewage or dangerous waste treatment plants. This not-in-my-backyard mentality, if unchecked, will lead to a zero-sum game between governments, enterprises and the public, Beijing Times commented on Wednesday:

People produce huge amounts of various kinds of waste in their daily lives, and garbage sorting is yet to be a habit. If everyone disagrees with the building of a waste incineration plant in their hometown, how on earth is all the garbage to be disposed of?

Compared with landfills, with the advancement of relevant technology, incinerating garbage is an efficient and comparatively hazard-free way of eliminating waste, and has the bonus that it generates energy.