2012年，国务院和国家发改委垃圾焚烧发电政策最终落地，掀起了政府和社会投资垃圾发电热潮，垃圾焚烧厂建设暴增；政府强力主导垃圾焚烧并未平息民众的疑虑，焚烧厂的选址纷争至今难以平息；被视为清洁能源的垃圾焚烧发电排放的二氧化氮是火电厂的4倍，“大跃进”式垃圾焚烧发电被批评为绿色背后掩藏着黑暗；垃圾发电被认为存在很大的技术隐患，而且过于依赖政府补贴并不是健康的产业发展模式；干馏气化与厌氧发酵技术应该取代垃圾焚烧，垃圾处理应回归资源化产业正途。
The garbage incineration power generation policy jointly stipulated by the State Council and the NDRC in 2012 has set off a garbage power frenzy,attracting enormous governmental and private investment. However,government's efforts have been greeted by the public with suspicion and triggered rounds of disputes concerning the location of garbage incineration power plants,each of which,though classified as clean,produces 4 times as much nitrogen dioxide as a same-sized thermal power plant. Criticism has been widely voiced against this garbage incineration power "great leap-forward",focusing on the reliability of garbage incineration power technologies and the sustainability of the industry which now depends excessively on government subsidy. Opponents of garbage incineration power now argue that waste incineration should be replaced by retorting gasification and anaerobic fermentation and that the future of waste treatment lies in reclamation.
