The Lin-gang Special Area in Shanghai released a fresh initiative to help build a waste-free city, according to a Dec 13 report by an official news outlet.

The program emphases recycling local construction clay residue, by employing it in the design and creation of hillside landscapes and in planting trees.

The amount of clay residue discharged by construction projects in the Lin-gang Special Area is estimated to be 14.2 million cubic meters this year, with the total amount of muck in the following years projected to range between 15 to 18 million cu m – accounting for one-third of the city's total.

"We need to ensure that all the dregs generated in the Lin-gang Special Area are processed within Lin-gang," said Gong Hongbing, director of the division of ecology and cityscape management in the Lin-gang Special Area Administration.

One method to reuse soda clay is to build hillside landscapes by laying it as the foundation. On the side of the S2 highway entrance ramp in the urban area of the Lin-gang Special Area, for example, is an eight-meter-high slope currently cultivating green plants using the construction detritus. Similar projects are also emerging in the Lyuli and Huangri ports in Lin-gang.

The other approach to recycling the materials involves fashioning shelter forests to protect the city from typhoons and storms.

A wide view of the shelter forests which have recycled construction clay in the Lin-gang Special Area. [Photo/WeChat account: shlgguanweihui]

The plan also outlines various other measures to control industrial solid waste by establishing an access system, growing a green supply chain and other methods.