HAIKOU, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- With a gentle pull of a lever, an operator sends a giant claw plunging into a mountain of waste at a waste-to-energy plant. It scoops up more than five tonnes at a time -- enough to generate the electricity a typical household uses in a year.
The waste is then fed into incinerators burning at over 850 degrees Celsius. The plant in China's southernmost province of Hainan processes some 4,200 tonnes of household garbage daily, generating about 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of power, roughly what more than 200,000 households use in a day.
This transformation of trash into energy is part of a broader low-carbon experiment in Hainan, known for its blue seas, tropical forests and abundant sunshine.
Since 2021, Hainan has closed 16 household waste landfills. With eight waste-to-energy plants now in operation, the province has achieved zero landfilling of untreated household waste, saving precious land resources while reducing the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, generated by landfills.
However, disposing of waste in a more environmentally friendly way is only part of the story. Hainan is also working to reduce waste at its source, beginning with plastic bags.
The change can be seen at a produce market in the provincial capital Haikou. Each of the more than 300 stalls has a digital ledger tracking where their shopping bags were bought, while a system generates green, yellow or red codes daily to flag whether the bags meet environmental requirements.
Since the digital system was introduced in April, the use of fully biodegradable bags has jumped from 18 percent to 81 percent in the market.
The call for biodegradable bags at the market was initially met with skepticism, with some vendors even hiding non-compliant bags from inspectors.
A meat vendor surnamed Wu, who has worked at the market for seven years, was among the skeptics, assuming that greener bags would simply cost more.
"Only after comparing them did I realize that the biodegradable bags here are cheaper than those sold elsewhere or online, and they are more durable," Wu said.
The market is one small piece of a province-wide push. Hainan was the first in China to impose a province-wide ban on non-biodegradable single-use plastic products through legislation.
By the end of 2025, alternatives to such banned plastic products accounted for an average of 80.2 percent at key venues including schools, hospitals, supermarkets and produce markets.
"A 'zero-waste island' is not simply about waste management, but a green transition that runs through the entire operation of a city," said Wang Chenye, deputy head of the Hainan academy of environmental sciences.
Some 100 km away from Haikou, a low-carbon experiment is also underway in the town of Boao. The Boao zero-carbon demonstration zone, China's first project to achieve zero-carbon operation through urban renewal, was created by retrofitting an existing area rather than being built from scratch.
Inside a hotel kitchen on Boao's Dongyu Island, chefs toss woks over sizzling stoves, but there is no flame in sight. Hotel kitchens across the island have been fully electrified.
"An all-electric kitchen alone can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 7.5 tonnes a day," said Luo Hu, an engineer with COSCO SHIPPING Boao Co., Ltd., a company involved in the zero-carbon demonstration zone project. He added that carbon traceability has been introduced for one-fifth of the dishes to help diners better understand the carbon footprint.
Across Dongyu Island in Boao, hotels and conference venues have undergone green renovations, while vehicles and boats have switched to new energy. Altogether, the transformation involved 18 projects spanning green buildings, renewable energy and greener transport, according to Luo.
"Carrying out zero-carbon retrofits with high heat, high humidity and frequent typhoons means there is no ready-made model to follow," said Zeng Youwen, chief engineer of the Hainan branch of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design.
The effort has paid off. The zone now generates more green electricity than it consumes and has entered sustained zero-carbon operation. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from buildings and municipal infrastructure in the zone fell from about 11,350 tonnes in 2019 to just 14.6 tonnes in 2025, a reduction of 99.9 percent.
Hainan is seeking to take such low-carbon practices much further during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).
Under a provincial low-carbon island plan, Hainan aims to complete building a low-carbon island before 2045 and reduce annual CO2 emissions by 70 percent from peak levels. The plan maps out changes across energy, industry, transport and buildings, alongside efforts to strengthen the island's carbon sinks.
The pursuit is already yielding tangible results in Hegui Village in Lingao County. Some 48 hectares of mangroves, long valued for shielding the coast from waves, are estimated to sequester 3,236.05 tonnes of carbon over seven years, potentially bringing over 320,000 yuan (about 47,500 U.S. dollars) to the village collective.
"This mangrove forest not only protects us from waves, but earns money through carbon credits," said Chen Hongwei, an official of the village. "That gives us even more reason to protect it." ■
