China's livestock farming pollution problem needs to be viewed objectively

According to statistics, China's livestock farms produce about 1.73 billion tons of manure annually, which is 2.7 times the 634 million tons of industrial solid waste. It is precisely because of this gap in total volume that people panic about livestock farming pollution, and even misinterpret it as the "chief culprit of pollution" that surpasses industrial pollution.

China's livestock farms produce about 1.73 billion tons of manure annually,

However, when looking at livestock farming pollution, it clearly cannot be calculated solely on the basis of total volume. Otherwise, by this logic, the household waste and manure pollution produced by humans from ancient times to the present would obviously be even greater, and would probably be the worthy chief culprit. Yet before the advent of industrial society, when did we ever see large-scale pollution incidents caused by the manure of livestock and humans?

To view livestock farming pollution objectively, we should recognize that livestock and poultry manure is decomposable and transformable and can achieve a green cycle. In other words, these more than 1.73 billion tons of manure may be converted into more than 1 billion tons of plant fertilizer, and can also become high-calorie fuel, which means that under modern standardized treatment, this "pollution" can often be turned from waste into treasure. This treatability is clearly different from the irreversible invasion of the environment by industrial pollution and derivative pollution. For this reason, improving the capacity to treat polluting materials such as livestock and poultry manure should be given top priority, transforming them into fertilizer, feed and fuel through technical means. At the same time, the cultivation of downstream industrial chains should be strengthened to achieve product linkage, thereby achieving the purpose of absorption. As for the residue and waste that cannot be treated, deep burial should be carried out to put an end to arbitrary discharge. Only in this way can livestock farming pollution achieve a green "counterattack."