Garbage fees a good step

The country will start collecting fees nationwide for treating garbage and wastewater in the interest of environmental protection. The decision at a conference of the State Development and Reform Commission was announced on Monday.

Such fees are now collected only in major cities. And even in these cities, only 55 percent of the sewage discharged is treated. Most of China's 600 cities do not have sewage disposal plants and they do not collect such fees. At the same time, the pollution of more than 70 percent of the country's rivers and 90 percent of underground water in most parts of the country has created an urgent need to treat sewage and solid waste.

With more rural residents swarming into urban areas in the process of urbanization, the sewage and solid waste discharged are putting increasingly greater strain on the environment. This in turn affects residents' quality of life.