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BEIJING, Nov. 1-- Chinese legislators on Wednesday warned that solid waste treatment is in a grave situation. Commending progress China has made in preventing solid waste pollution in the past five years, Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, admitted that "prominent challenges remain." The Solid Waste Control Law must be properly implemented, Zhang said as he presented a report to the NPC Standing Committee at its six-day bimonthly session. The report came after the NPC Standing Committee began to investigate enforcement of the law in May. The amount of solid waste is large. Management of hazardous waste must be strengthened, the report read. "Each year, the country generates nearly 4 billion tonnes of waste from livestock and poultry, around 1 billion tonnes of crop straw, around 3.3 billion tonnes of general industrial solid waste and around 200 million tonnes of household waste in large and medium-sized cities," the report said. Disposal systems for household waste are widespread in urban areas; however, 57 percent of the country's villages have none. The report also listed problems, such as polluters not fulfilling their responsibilities, and local government departments performing poorly in supervision and law enforcement. The public is not fully aware of environmental protection. Over-consumption and over-packaging are common but garbage sorting is not, the report said. | 
