As more environmental problems have surfaced, carrying out measures which can work effectively in solving these problems should be a first priority. A new system called zero waste appears and is preferred by many authorities. According to Collins (2002), an environmentalist, “Zero waste emphasizes that everything we buy is, or eventually will be, made from materials that can be repaired, reused or recycled.” Conclusively speaking, zero waste holds a spirit of recycling and blocks anything against the spirit out of the system. The other usual way dealing with wastes, using incinerators, is just burning everything deemed useless. In China, burning is still the most common way to dispose with rubbish. In fact, quite a lot of advantages of zero waste are indicated by comparing it with using incinerators.
First, zero waste does better than using incinerators in saving resources. Resources, which are considered as non- renewable energy, are limited on the earth and many resources need millions or even billions of years to regenerate. As a result, if we just burn anything used that seems useless, all the materials and resources are gone with the fire. In contrast, zero waste considers more about the future and contributes more to the sustainable development. China, which is the biggest developing country in the world and supports the largest national population, 1.4 billion people, especially needs to think about the problem of maintaining natural resources. The average amount of resources of each person in China is fairly small due to the large number of population. In addition, sustainable development has been a main policy to solve environmental problems in China. Thus, zero waste is a good choice to realize the goal more effectively.
Second, using incinerators not only wastes resources but also pollutes the air at the same time, because many man-made materials and organic materials release some poisonous gases which are harmful to human beings. Zero waste does not create such problems. For China, whose environment is suffering serious pollutions, it is better to alleviate the current situation but not to make it more difficult. Obviously, using incinerators is making the environmental problems more serious while zero waste helps to improve. Why not choose a measure helps efficiently like zero waste instead of using incinerators?
In conclusion, zero waste is more suitable for China to take in solving environmental problems.
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4 comments:
"should be THE first priority" right?
I don't know to what extend China has implemented trying to reduce waste but I think the government is working on it. The large population and workforce can be a advantage when dealing with this problem. That's what I think.
Perhaps there's room to talk about how soon China can implement zero waste. Anyway, this is a nice post.
I totally agree that burning turn good resource into a real wastes that cannot be use anymore in future or now.
Thanks for this intelligent viewpoint. I hope China can solve its waste problems since those issues will undoubtedly affect people in the rest of the region.
I really really hate the smoke when the garbage is burnt. my nose can tell it is poisonous.
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