This case study outlines efforts in the treatment of municipal solid waste treatment in Wenzhou, People's Republic of China has benefited from public-private partnerships (PPPs). The city of Wenzhou generates about 400,000 tons in household waste each year, a figure that is growing at a rate of 8%–10% annually. The household waste was disposed into two existing landfills that were nearing capacity.
In 2002, the local government decided to form a build-operate-transfer partnership with a local private contractor, Wei Ming Environmental Protection Engineering, to build and operate a new municipal solid waste (MSW)-to-energy incinerator plant. The company would invest a total of CNY90 million in phases to build the plant and would operate, manage, and maintain it for a period of 25 years (excluding a 2-year construction period) under the BOT agreement. At the end of the period, the plant would revert to government ownership without any additional compensation to the company.
The incinerator plant has a design capacity of 320 tons of MSW per day and electricity generation of up to 25 million kilowatts (kWh) annually. The first phase of the plant would be able to treat 160 tons per day. This would allow the plant to generate 9 million kWh a year, of which 7 million kWh would be available for sale.