An overview of the activities during NEA's Yangtze Waste Management Fact Finding Mission

I am composing this new blog in China’s most energetic and developed city: Shanghai. Shanghai is the last destination of NEA’s fact finding mission for waste management and spill control in the Yangtze River.

This week, I accompanied NEA and several external waste management/inland shipping experts on this fact finding mission. For the purpose of the fact finding mission, several meetings and field research activities took place in Beijing, Wuhan, Yichang and Shanghai. These meeting and activities are relevant for my thesis research; therefore NEA invited me for this trip. During these meetings and activities, I had the chance to participate in the discussions with the Chinese parties. The discussions proved to be valuable for my thesis work.

The logistic and organizational aspects of this trip were arranged by the Waterborne Transportation Institute (WTI) in Beijing. WTI was also the first counterpart in China. During the meeting, the Dutch experts presented the best practices on inland shipping waste management in The Netherlands. Afterwards, the Dutch delegation had the chance to discuss on the state of affairs regarding Chinese inland shipping waste management.

After this meeting, we headed for the airport for the flight to Wuhan. Wuhan contains one of the biggest inland shipping terminals in China. Therefore the meetings and field research activities proved to be very valuable for the fact finding mission as well as for my thesis research. The morning after arrival in Wuhan, a meeting with the Wuhan Maritime Safety Administration took place. The Wuhan MSA provided information concerning the policies, state of affairs, and plans for the waste management in the Yangtze around Wuhan. The next day was scheduled for a meeting with the Yangtze Navigation Bureau. In the afternoon, the Yangtze Navigation Bureau took us on a boat trip to a waste collection vessel and the Wuhan cargo terminal.

During the next morning, the mission continued with the bus trip to Yichang, a medium sized (to Chinese standards) city in the vicinity of the Three Gorges Dam. After arrival around noon, the Three Gorges Navigation Bureau guided us on a trip to certain inland water vessels, where the experts could investigate the practical state of waste collection and treatment on the ships. Afterwards, we had a tour around the Three Gorges Dam and the adjacent ship, which is the biggest ship lock in the world. The next morning, a meeting took place with the Three Gorges Navigation Bureau.

Then it was time to catch the mission’s last domestic flight to Shanghai. The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration was the last counterpart. The meeting with them was a very fruitful one. Both the Dutch and Chinese side presented a lot of information about the waste management policies and practices on both sides. After this meeting, the fact finding mission officially ended.

I am very glad that I could be part of the fact finding mission because the meetings and activities were related to my thesis topic. Besides that, it was a good experience to accompany the Dutch experts during the mission. Because I speak a little bit Chinese, I could also support the Dutch experts in basic translations and help them with some practical affairs.

Tomorrow, I have the opportunity to visit the Shanghai 2010 Expo. I am very lucky that I get the opportunity to visit this huge event in Shanghai. In the next blog, I will update you on the visit to the Expo and my activities in Beijing, because I will head for Beijing on Monday.