China’s booming economy has at least one major drawback.  The Chinese are having trouble keeping up with the garbage. As more Chinese live more affluent and modern lifestyles in the cities, they grow accustomed to Western ways like McDonalds, Starbucks and their Chinese equivalents.

Although the average Chinese only produces half as much trash as the average American, the amount of garbage is growing by 4% a year. Considering that China has four times the population as the United States, China’s garbage output equals about one-third of the world’s total trash. In four years, Beijing’s two hundred legal and illegal dump sites will fill up.

The stench is overwhelming in places. That has led the Chinese government to bring in 100 huge fragrance guns that fire a perfume like substance into the air. The fragrance does nothing to halt the toxins and stench carried into air, but at least it masks some of the overwhelming smells. That is if cherry or flowery-scented garbage appeals to one’s senses.

The root of China’s garbage problem stems from poor planning. China sees the solution as incineration. The goal is to incinerate 40% of the nation’s 254 million tons of garbage a year. Places like Beijing currently incinerate 2%.

That sounds more like a plan to increase air pollution rather than turn China green.

China is a long way from developing green policies. The public bins marked “recycle” and “trash” often become mixed because China has failed to properly educate its people on what is recyclable. Even when things are separated properly, the facilities that process the trash cannot always handle it. Sometimes everything gets compacted together.

“We just compress, pack and then bury everything directly,” said a spokesman from one waste center.

If things get worse, there is always a new fragrance to cover-up the smells. I’m waiting for China’s new water-saving policy — don’t take baths, just use cologne.