Anti-incinerator campaigns and the evolution of protest politics in China

Abstract

As China rapidly urbanises, many cities are building incinerators to try to reduce the growing pressure of rising volumes of municipal waste on landfills. Incinerator projects have provoked NIMBY protests in many countries, but China is an authoritarian one-party state with a demonstrated readiness to suppress protests which challenge government projects. However, some of these protest campaigns have led to cancellation or indefinite postponement of government-supported projects at particular sites. We review three recent campaigns against incinerators – in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Wujiang – explain the successful outcomes of each campaign, and then place these conflicts within the spectrum of environmental protest-politics in China. Finally, we consider whether these outcomes contribute to ‘ecological modernisation’ in the management of municipal waste.