Sorting and throwing garbage every day can make the community cleaner and earn points; The demolition of the park wall has added a rain garden, with enchanting greenery filling the eyes; Wastewater is becoming clear, and recycled water is becoming an important secondary water source
These small changes that occur around residents create a new landscape of lush greenery in the port city. In this new landscape, it carries a better quality of living space for every resident, as well as the driving force for the city to move towards a better tomorrow.
Garbage classification becomes a habit
Brushing faces, throwing garbage, earning points... Yesterday morning, Wang Wei, a resident of Tashan Community in Zhifu District, went to the garbage sorting facility downstairs as usual and threw the pre sorted garbage into the facility.
Such intelligent garbage classification facilities have entered more and more residential areas and units. In 2020, Yantai City fully launched the work of household waste classification. After more than four years of continuous efforts, the garbage classification management system has been basically established.
In the process of classified collection, 1157 residential areas in the city have set up classified distribution collection points, replacing the old-fashioned open metal boxes, achieving full coverage of classified facilities, and greatly reducing secondary pollution. In the classified transportation process, 386 classified transportation vehicles were configured, and the four types of garbage were classified and transported by public transportation.
In the process of classification and treatment, the city has built 10 domestic waste incineration power plants, including 4 in urban areas and 6 in counties and cities, with an annual power generation of 710 million kWh, equivalent to saving 234500 tons of standard coal. Every year, up to 330000 tons of renewable resources are classified and recycled from household waste. The classified hazardous waste is transported to the hazardous waste treatment plant for harmless treatment.
According to the evaluation of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, among 297 prefecture level cities in China, our city's household waste classification work has entered the second level, "said the person in charge of the Municipal Environmental Sanitation Center.
In Yantai, kitchen waste can be transformed into biogas and generate electricity. In recent years, the management and transportation volume of kitchen waste in urban areas has reached new highs, with a peak daily processing capacity of over 260 tons since 2025. The Yantai City Kitchen Waste Treatment Project adopts the internationally advanced "pretreatment+anaerobic digestion process" to harmless treat kitchen waste and produce by-products such as crude oil and biogas. The resource utilization rate of the collected kitchen waste reaches 100%, and the power generation is 9117284 kilowatt hours.
Building barriers in green parks
Strolling along the Huanshan Road in Zhifu District, you can enter the artificial lake area of Nanshan Park at any time and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Recently, the city park that has carried the memories of several generations of Yantai people has quietly transformed from a traditional closed park to an open boundaryless park.
Nanshan Park is an important tourist and leisure attraction in Yantai City. This project is a renovation and upgrading of the artificial north side of Nanshan Park, with a total design area of approximately 0.8 hectares.
Entering the renovated Nanshan Park, the beautiful scenery in front of me is filled with thick greenery. The reporter learned from the Municipal Urban Management Bureau that the project is guided by the concept of sponge city, and improves the utilization rate of rainwater through biological retention tanks and rainwater gardens. At the same time, wet plants are selected to supplement the purification function, and the rainwater inlet is renovated to intercept rainwater. A stepped retention facility is built according to the height difference on site, and water is retained and stored layer by layer. Design a rainwater garden and sunken green space at the bottom of the retention pond to increase the storage area. The park is designed with multiple integrated sponge city science popularization, interactive facilities, rest chairs, and observation platforms, where visitors can enjoy the beautiful scenery of Nanshan Park from afar.
The project has created multiple open landscape space interfaces, added wooden boardwalks and step barriers, and formed a downward walking space; To create a beautiful urban ecological leisure green space that takes into account urban drainage and flood prevention, alleviation of urban heat island effect, and utilization of rainwater resources.
Yantai, a national garden city, has always anchored the goal of ecological livability and continuously deepened green construction. Currently, it has achieved full coverage of garden cities, with Longkou City, Laizhou City, and Haiyang City being national garden cities, and Zhaoyuan City, Qixia City, and Laiyang City being provincial-level garden cities. It has formed a new pattern of "city leading, county following" green development.
From the perspective of greening effectiveness, the city level plays a core leading role, with per capita park green area exceeding 18 square meters, greenway length exceeding 400 kilometers, and the number of existing parks at the city level reaching more than 60 (of which free parks account for over 98%) and pocket parks exceeding 100, basically meeting the needs of citizens to "go out and enjoy greenery nearby".
At the county level, in the construction of national garden cities, parks in Longkou City and Laizhou City have achieved 100% free access. Provincial level garden cities are simultaneously consolidating their green foundation, jointly building a comprehensive ecological barrier, and constructing a multi-level green space system.
Optimizing the layout of green spaces and improving the quality of greenery, the ecological welfare that Yantai tirelessly pursues is becoming a "small blessing" in the lives of citizens.
Wastewater regeneration adds vitality
With more than 10 processes and 24-hour operation, the originally black and odorous sewage has turned into a gurgling stream. At Yantai Reclaimed Water Co., Ltd., the head of the production department, Yu Yingjie, opened the water intake and received a cup of treated reclaimed water, which was difficult to distinguish from the mineral water in his hand.
Yantai is a water scarce city. Since its official water supply in January 2019, the recycled water project has supplied a total of about 239 million cubic meters of recycled water, nearly twice the capacity of the Menlou Reservoir (126.4 million cubic meters).
The reporter saw that the recycled water treatment project is adjacent to the Taoziwan sewage treatment plant, and the domestic sewage is treated by the sewage plant before entering the recycled water treatment workshop. The recycled water project mainly adopts ultrafiltration+reverse osmosis treatment process, which can meet the high-quality industrial water demand of Wanhua Industrial Park, "said Yu Yingjie.
There are two water supply pipelines underground in the recycled water workshop, with a 44 kilometer water supply pipeline leading to Wanhua Industrial Park and an 8.7 kilometer water supply pipeline leading to the power plant. Through the water supply pipeline, recycled water flows non-stop to the enterprise, fulfilling its new mission there. This summer, the first and second phases of the reclaimed water project for Wanhua Industrial Park at the Taoziwan Sewage Treatment Plant have been completed with a capacity of 200000 tons per day, and the current water supply has reached a historical high of 185000 tons per day.
Since the official water supply in January 2019, a total of about 239 million tons of recycled water have been supplied here, including 222 million tons for Wanhua Industrial Park, 15.84 million tons for Huaneng Yantai Power Generation Co., Ltd., and 310000 tons for greening and other purposes.
In the magical journey of turning sewage into clear springs, enterprises quench their thirst and cities add vitality.
