“Environmental Protest Breaks out in China’s Wuhan City”, 4 July 2019

… residents of the Yangluo residential district in the central Chinese city of Wuhan took to the streets to protest the construction of a waste-to-energy plant in the district…Concerns include the capability of the company itself and the placement of the plant, which is located just 800 meters from some residences, rather than the minimum 1.5 km recommended by publicly available plans for the area.

… the company given the contract for the project, Wuhan Huaneng Rongcheng Renewable Resources Co., Ltd. (a state-owned enterprise), was only created on April 17, 2019, just two days before Yangtze New City, the group operating a larger circular economy, filed the project. City records show that name approval for Wuhan Huaneng Rongcheng was granted on April 11, 2019. The selection of such a new company for the project is particularly strange given that there are well-established companies (CCEPC and Kaidi) in Wuhan already operating waste-to-energy plants…

Media and legal experts interviewed by a local media company echoed many of the protesters’ concerns, noting that the protests stemmed from a lack of transparency and community consultation. While commentators generally suggested that the project was necessary, they highlighted the need for better education of the people and greater public communication…