On 9 – 11 October, reporters from People's Daily Online participated the 2022 Changjiang High-Quality Development Promotion Activity for Convergence Media organized by the Publicity Department of Changjiang Li Autonomous County Committee to experience the circular economy model which turns waste to treasure and turns "pollutant" to fertilizer. Changjiang has already discovered a path for high-quality sustainable development that coordinates economic, social and environmental development. 

"Construction Waste" is no longer waste

"The most worrying problem right now is the sources of construction waste." Inside the Changjiang Construction Waste Disposal Plant, reporters could see fully-sealed construction waste was piled up in the shed. Construction waste such as bricks and stone only occupied one-third of the total space of the plant. Lei Fengshou, the general manager of Runfeng Environmental Protection Technology (Changjiang) Limited, who is also responsible for the operation of the Changjiang Construction Waste Disposal Plant, said that the disposal plant mainly processed construction waste from and around Changjiang County. It could process 250,000 tons of construction waste per annum, but ever since the commencement of operation in December 2021, the disposal plant had often been in a state of "hunger".

Fortunately, the project has taken this problem into consideration at the early stage of design. The project comprehensively utilizes mine stone to produce sand, gravel, aggregates and other raw materials for cement production to solve problems including mismatch between investment scale and profitability. The project owns annual production capacities of 300,000 m3 of concrete, 300,000 tons of gravel and 850,000 tons of manufactured sand respectively. 

The treatment process of construction waste is displayed in real time on the large screen in the central control room of Changjiang Construction Waste Disposal Plant, where the construction waste can be directly "transformed" into renewable resources including concrete, aggregates, powder, muck and solid waste through sorting, tertiary crushing and screening. Muck and solid waste are sent to cement kilns as raw material mixtures to undergo harmless and resourcezation treatment. Through the concrete batching system, concrete and aggregates are produced to recycled concrete, which is used in engineering construction to achieve the recycling and resourceful utilization of construction waste. 

"Here, construction waste is no longer a pain in the neck. Instead, it is a type of raw material that can create values. As long as the construction waste enters the plant, we can finish processing it on the same day, satisfying the disposal requirements of construction waste of the whole Changjiang region." Lei Fengshou further introduced that city construction would produce a large amount of construction waste every day. If the waste was not processed properly, it would not only cause waste of resources, but also create secondary pollution. In reliance on CR Cement's production plants, Changjiang Construction Waste Disposal Plant adopted the co-processing model of "cement kilns + construction waste". The construction waste is "being reproduced in furnaces" to become building materials of different specifications so as to achieve reduction, harmless disposal and comprehensive utilization of construction waste. 

According to Lei Fengshou, the production process in Changjiang Construction Waste Disposal Plant was fully-enclosed, and the whole sewage disposal system was complied with standards, achieving zero discharge and zero pollution which not only produces economic and social benefits, but also contributes to energy saving, emissions reduction, and prevention and treatment on atmospheric pollution.

Changjiang Construction Waste Disposal Plant was constructed by Runfeng Environmental Protection Technology (Changjiang) Limited. The project commenced construction in November 2020 as one of the key projects in Changjiang. It is equipped with functions including manufactured sand production, gravel production and commercial concrete production, with design annual processing capacity of approximately 250,000 tons of construction waste, and complemented with annual production capacity of approximately 300,000 m3 of concrete, 300,000 tons of gravel, 850,000 tons of manufactured sand respectively. In 2022, the project has comprehensively utilized 916,000 tons of mullock of limestone mines and 8,377 tons of construction waste. 

Please refer to the Chinese version for more details.

Changjiang Construction Waste Disposal Plant 

Reporters watched the treatment process of construction waste from the large screen

Source of interview content: People's Daily Online – Hainan Channel