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How technological breakthroughs turn waste into treasure.
Why has China's waste management achieved such a spectacular turnaround?
How did garbage transform from a problem into a "hot commodity"?

Recently, a surprising topic has gone viral: "China is running out of garbage to burn." Doesn't that sound almost surreal? Just over a decade ago, China was locked in a desperate struggle against a "garbage siege," and a sense of hopelessness loomed over the entire society. Back then, waste was like an untamable beast, wreaking havoc on the environment and threatening the lives of Chinese citizens. Today, the situation has done a complete 180, and garbage has actually become a scarce resource—a plot twist more dramatic than a Hollywood blockbuster. What exactly happened in between? How did China achieve such a stunning reversal in the war on waste? Today, let's take a deep dive into this remarkable journey.

The Despair of the Past: Cities Besieged by Garbage
Just over a decade ago, Beijing found itself surrounded by a sea of garbage. In 2010, a director investigated 460 landfills and filmed the documentary Beijing Besieged by Garbage. The scenes were enough to make your skin crawl. Endless, nauseating piles of trash stretched as far as the eye could see, and the pungent stench could make a person faint. Scavengers skillfully rummaged through the waste, while trucks in the distance continuously dumped new loads, making it feel like the entire city could be buried at any moment. At the time, Beijing produced 30,000 tons of garbage daily, the equivalent of 1,500 heavy-duty trucks. The primary method of disposal was crude and simple: landfilling. Yet even with 11 large landfills operating 24/7, they could only handle 20,000 tons, and the rest piled up like a flood, furiously engulfing the city's outskirts.
This wasn't just a problem for Beijing; it was a microcosm of urbanization across the country. By 2015, China's annual urban garbage output had soared to 260 million tons, half of China's cities were "besieged by garbage," groundwater pollution alarms were sounding, and trash in landfills would take over a century to decompose. Some people desperately predicted that the entire country would be taken over by garbage. Back then, waste management seemed like a bottomless pit with no hope in sight.
Just imagine the impact on daily life when cities were besieged by garbage. Residents were afraid to open their windows for fear of the foul smell; nearby water sources were contaminated, threatening drinking water safety; and vast tracts of land were consumed, severely squeezing urban development space. The garbage problem was like a malignant tumor, eroding the health of cities and significantly reducing people's quality of life.