Qinhuangdao "Castor Bean King" Trials 100 Mu of Colorful Castor Beans on a Garbage Dump

    Ordinary castor beans have been grown into a colorful spectacle by a farmer in the mountains. He Shaoyu of Donghezhuang Village, Zhucaoying Town, Funing County, Qinhuangdao City, praised by local people as the Qinhuangdao "Castor Bean King", after more than 10 years of careful cultivation, has grown colorful castor bean seeds in his own small farmyard. Recently, the "Castor Bean King", determined to promote colorful castor beans, had another sudden idea: he plans to carry out large-scale demonstration planting on the municipal domestic waste landfill in his hometown, build a 100-mu colorful castor bean garden on the garbage dump, and promote it nationwide, so that colorful castor bean flowers can bloom across the domestic waste landfills of every city.

    ■ "Castor Bean King" Promotes New Technology

    Farmer He Shaoyu of Donghezhuang Village began growing castor beans in 1990. After more than ten years of repeated crossbreeding experiments, He Shaoyu finally succeeded in cultivating colorful castor beans with 8 colors and nearly ten varieties deep in the mountains... The flower-like castor bean fruits became a miracle in the mountains, and Old He, obsessed with breeding castor bean seeds, was called the Qinhuangdao "Castor Bean King" by the villagers.

    How to promote the new technology of growing colorful castor beans became Old He's concern. Several years ago, Old He promoted growing colorful castor beans as part of students' work-study programs at nearby schools, with good results. Starting in 2004, he began introducing this technology to schools in remote mountainous areas of several provinces and municipalities including Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.

■ Growing Castor Beans on a Garbage Dump

He Shaoyu explained that castor beans have relatively high economic value: the stalks can be pressed into building materials, the seeds can be pressed for oil, the seed cake can be used as fertilizer, and the leaves can be used to raise silkworms, yielding considerable benefits. Moreover, the multi-colored fruits and flowers of colorful castor beans can not only serve as cut-flower materials in the floral market, but large-scale planting can also add a beautiful new landscape to urban greening.

In March of this year, He Shaoyu came to the Qinhuangdao Municipal Landscape Bureau and Environmental Protection Bureau to promote large-scale planting of colorful castor beans in urban areas. Unexpectedly, staff of the Urban Management Bureau responded on the spot, hoping Old He could carry out demonstration planting of colorful castor beans simultaneously at the Zhangqiaozhuang Domestic Waste Landfill in Haigang District and the Shanhaiguan Waste Landfill. If successful, it could also be promoted at waste landfills in cities across the country. Old He immediately organized villagers from the same village to come to the two garbage sites to level the land, dig holes and sow seeds.

Growing castor beans on a garbage dump is not an easy task. The Zhangqiaozhuang Domestic Waste Landfill, located in the northeast of the urban area of Qinhuangdao City, covers more than 300 mu. Workers must handle more than 700 tons of domestic waste produced by the entire Haigang District every day, and various engineering vehicles take soil from nearby to cover and bury the waste. When the wind is strong, plastic bags fly all over the landfill, and the sanitation workers, while handling and burying the waste, must also frequently pick up plastic bags around the garbage site. The "Castor Bean King's" colorful castor bean demonstration garden was to be built on the large garbage heap already buried in sand and soil and closed. Old He and the villagers endured the enormous stench emitted by various kinds of waste every day while also frequently cleaning up plastic bags flying all over the site. In just over a month, the "Castor Bean King" invested more than 30,000 yuan, planting 100 mu and 30 mu of colorful castor bean demonstration gardens at the two domestic waste landfills in Haigang District and Shanhaiguan respectively. In addition, Old He also came up with a measure of covering the garbage heap with protective netting, hoping to thoroughly solve the pollution of white waste to the surrounding environment.

■ Let Colorful Castor Beans Bloom Across the Country

Now, under the careful care of the "Castor Bean King" and his fellow workers, the 100-mu castor bean garden on the Zhangqiaozhuang Domestic Waste Landfill in Haigang District has begun to take shape, and colorful castor bean seedlings have broken through the soil one by one.

The "Castor Bean King" said happily that in a few more months the scene of plastic bags everywhere will no longer be seen here. A 100-mu colorful castor bean garden will form a beautiful multi-colored screen covering the huge garbage heap. By then, Qinhuangdao will promote this environmental planting experience of growing colorful castor beans in garbage sites to the whole country, letting colorful castor beans bloom across the nation.