Can Uzbekistan solve its waste problem with Chinese incineration plants?

This story by Brian Hioe and Nurbek Bekmurzaev originally appeared on Global Voices on October 24, 2025.

In a significant step toward sustainable waste management, Uzbekistan launched construction of its first waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in cooperation with China International CAMCE in the eastern Andijan province on July 7, 2025. Upon its completion, the plant will generate 240 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity by burning 1,500 tons of waste daily. CAMCE will invest USD 140 million, bearing all the expenses. Operators will gain revenue through waste disposal fees and electricity sales.

The construction of Uzbekistan’s second WTE plant started on July 18 in the central Samarkand province, in cooperation with the Chinese waste management group Shanghai SUS Environment. The plant will also burn 1,500 tons of waste daily and generate 240 million kWh of electricity. It will cost SUS Environment USD 150 million to build the plant.

Speaking at the inauguration event in Samarkand, the Director of the Waste Management Agency, Sharifbek Khasanov, noted that WTE projects:

On the surface, the project looks like a win-win all around. Uzbekistan gets new WTE plants to solve its mounting waste problem, reduce pollution, and generate additional electricity. At the same time, Chinese companies get to expand their businesses abroad amid overcapacity in the domestic market. However, behind this seemingly idyllic success story, there is a lack of transparency around the deals signed by the Uzbek government and Chinese investors and silence around the potential environmental and health hazards, which have not been acknowledged.

Burning the problem away

The two aforementioned plants are just a start of the grandiose plans drawn up by China and Uzbekistan to transform the country’s waste management industry. The Uzbek government has inked deals with three Chinese companies to build at least seven WTE plants in six provinces and the capital, Tashkent, by 2027. CAMCE will build two more plants in Tashkent and Tashkent province, SUS Environment will build one more plant in Qashadaryo, and China Everbright International will build two plants in the Namangan and Fergana provinces.

These projects have the highest political backing in Uzbekistan. In October 2024, when these and other WTE projects were presented to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, he highlighted:

Clearly, the president is placing high hopes on these projects. It is also clear that the waste problem has become unmanageable and must be addressed. Uzbekistan produces 14 million tons of waste every year, but only 4 percent of it is recycled. For decades, waste in Uzbekistan was dumped in traditional open-air landfills — many of which are operated less than 750–900 meters away from human settlements. As a result, over 7 million tons of greenhouse gases and 43,000 tons of toxic leachates pollute the atmosphere, soil, and water every year, which harms local communities and creates adverse health impacts.

Mark Fodor, Defenders in Development campaign coordinator at the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, who participated in a Bankwatch investigation into the effect of landfills on Uzbek communities, spoke about the atmosphere of censorship that prevents many in Uzbek society from speaking out about such issues.

“I was actually stunned at how reprisals manifest themselves in Uzbekistan. It was one thing to run into an individual here and there who had faced reprisals for speaking out. And it was a whole different thing to see the chilling effect that these same reprisals had on Uzbek society as a whole. To see how whole communities wouldn't dare to speak out about landfills that were making their lives miserable.”

In an attempt to address this waste crisis, Uzbekistan set up the Agency for Waste Management and Circular Economy Development in September 2024. Its main bet thus far has been on incineration plants. In addition to the seven Chinese WTE plants, Uzbekistan plans to launch a large WTE plant with investments from the Emirati Tadweer Group and two other plants that will generate electricity from burning landfill gases, financed by Korean companies.

Together, these ventures will burn more than 4.7 million tons of waste annually, which would have otherwise gone to landfills. They will generate 2.1 billion kWh of electricity worth USD 97 million. This will also save 152 million cubic meters of natural gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2.4 million tons.

See Also: China is helping Uzbekistan save the Aral Sea

Transparency concerns

The most immediate concern regarding the WTEs is the transparency of the deals. Thus far, there is not much information about the conditions each side agreed to. The only detail that has been made public is that in exchange for building the WTE plants in Uzbekistan, the three Chinese companies received guarantees from the state to buy electricity from them for the next 30 years. The lack of transparency raises a myriad of concerns and questions.

Why didn’t the government organize an open tender and select the most competitive offers transparently? What other concessions did the authorities make? And at what price will the government buy electricity from these WTE plants, market price or above?

These questions haven’t emerged out of nowhere. Uzbekistan’s neighbor, Kyrgyzstan, has signed a contract with a Chinese company called Junxin to build a WTE plant in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek. Investigations show that such deals can heavily favor Chinese investors. For example, in addition to buying electricity from Junxin, the Kyrgyz government will pay USD 17 for every ton of incinerated waste, amounting to USD 6.2 million annually. Moreover, Kyrgyzstan will not even bear ownership over the plant upon the expiration of the 30-year contract.

Additionally, some human rights observers have raised concerns that officials have not implemented any mechanisms to receive public feedback, complaints, or input about this and other burgeoning infrastructure projects that could impact community health and comfort. This is a common problem in Uzbekistan, where the state’s tight control over civil society and strict censorship policies have somewhat frozen public discourse or criticism.

Another major concern is related to potential environmental and public health impacts. Despite the Uzbek government’s best efforts to convince the public of WTE plants’ positive contribution to the environment, there is evidence suggesting they can also cause harm. There have been numerous studies linking old and poorly maintained incinerators to neoplasia, birth defects, infant mortality, and miscarriages. Although modern WTEs provide better emission control, it is too early to declare them safe, since many illnesses take years to manifest.

Plastics make up a significant share of solid waste (more than 10 percent) in Uzbekistan. Incinerating plastic is reported to release dioxins, furans, microplastics, and other persistent and hazardous chemical emissions that can evade filters and re-enter ecosystems and food chains. WTE can cause chemical pollution and create public health problems. Thus, people in China have protested the polluting effects of WTE plants, which can release airborne particles and impact local water supplies.

This pushback prompted the Chinese government to impose strict regulations around WTE plants domestically, including requirements around pollution monitoring and publishing, emission caps, generous “protection zones” around plants, and harsh penalties for companies that fail to comply.

See Also: Trump, Eye On Central Asia, Clinches $12B In Deals With Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan

Overcapacity in China

For China, the reason behind the budding waste incineration cooperation with Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states is fairly simple: overcapacity.

Generally, in state-affiliated media and discourse, this is not addressed directly. Instead, the three companies involved in WTE projects in Uzbekistan largely frame their expansion into Central Asia in line with the aims of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s global connectivity, trade, and transportation project. An article in the Chinese state-affiliated Sina Finance explains how the projects dovetail with the state’s BRI expansion plans.

Within Chinese media, Uzbekistan is framed as an especially attractive option for Chinese WTE projects. This article in the state-affiliated outlet People’s Daily states:

They term Uzbekistan as having an industrial spirit but also being “willing to learn from the experiences of other countries,” such as regarding China’s “advanced” expertise in WTE projects and the “maturity” of its domestic industries.

Hidden behind all this vague corporate jargon, which helps these companies appear as noble entities assisting in uplifting Uzbekistan, is the simple overcapacity issue the Chinese WTE industry faces at home. Over the last 20 years, the industry has developed so rapidly that it ran out of waste to burn, forcing WTE companies to seek expansion opportunities abroad.

Data from China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shows that the number of waste incineration plants grew from 67 in 2005 to 1,010 in 2023. This, in turn, increased the proportion of solid waste subjected to incineration from 9.8 percent to 82.5 percent. WTE plants’ load rate in China currently stands at around 60 percent. In short, there is not enough solid waste for WTE plants to operate at full capacity, and the domestic competition is fierce.

For Chinese WTE companies, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries represent a new and, more importantly, plentiful frontier, where competition is absent and the local authorities welcome them with open arms, offering favorable conditions. Additionally, China’s privileged status as Uzbekistan’s largest trade partner, investor, and the second-largest export market is a major boost for these companies.

(DS)

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