Pudong investigates illegal garbage dumping in greenbelt

Pudong’s environmental authority has launched an investigation following media exposure of illegal garbage dumping and burning in a greenbelt for years.

A tip-off led Shanghai Radio Station to report yesterday that large amounts of construction waste residues, plastic bags and abandoned furniture were dumped or buried in a 2-kilometer-long greenbelt near Fute Road W. and Huashen Road in the Pudong New Area.

A shabby garbage incinerator, featuring a 3-meter-high chimney, stands on the belt. It has been used to burn dead leaves, waste plastics and other garbage for several years, causing a bad smell that overwhelmed nearby residents, an unnamed whistleblower told the radio station.

An unidentified elderly man was found weeding a vegetable garden, nearly the size of two basketball courts, in the greenbelt. He told the radio station that several local families were allowed to grow vegetables in the garden. 

Pudong Environmental Protection and City Appearance Sanitation Bureau told Shanghai Daily that it has intervened, and the investigation is still ongoing. 

However, it remains unknown who is in charge of the place. 

The local government of Gaodong Town said the greenbelt has been administered by its neighboring Shanghai Free Trade Zone since 1992. But the free trade zone denied it, with an anonymous official with the zone’s administration saying it is an “ungoverned” land.  

Pudong government hasn’t responded to the news.

Pudong has two garbage incinerators in Yuqiao and Laogang. Both sites have been upgraded and they can generate electricity while handling garbage.