Clear to the Bottom

Meanwhile.

Over the past few days, Huang Xiuyuan had kept a close eye on the company's development through calls and online updates.

Blue Era's garbage collection work in the urban district was progressing smoothly. With the local authorities' cooperation, the number of sanitation workers had grown by 420.

Several areas that had not previously been included in the cleanup zone—Pubian Town, Hongcao Town, Magong Town, Dongchong Town, Tiangan Town, and Zhelang Red Bay Tourist Area—had also been provisionally added to the urban district's sanitation coverage.

The amount of urban garbage collected each day had reached around 840 tons.

Meanwhile, after continuous excavation, Blue Era had already cleared two of the more than ten open-air dumping sites previously scattered across the urban-rural fringe. They expected to finish clearing all of them within three months.

As for the other subsidiary, Hailu Gas...

It had made an initial breakthrough in the urban district's bottled-gas market, raising its market share to around 38 percent, and that share was still climbing.

Daily sales of liquefied gas averaged around 45 tons.

Quite a few sharp-eyed distributors had already approached Bao Sikang, ready to switch suppliers.

After all, Hailu Gas had an overwhelming price advantage. The two previous liquefied-gas suppliers had been charging wholesalers 55 to 60 yuan for a 15-kilogram cylinder.

Hailu Gas, by contrast, charged no more than 55 yuan at retail. Consumers could vote with their feet. If Hailu Gas had already built out its distribution network, the other two suppliers' markets might have collapsed.

As more distributors switched over, it might take only a few months for Hailu Gas to completely take over the urban district's residential gas market.

Suiren Company's parent company continued developing its garbage-recycling technology.

At present, it had a more than adequate supply of raw materials for gas production: kitchen waste, fallen branches and leaves, food-processing waste, livestock manure, and sludge from beneath the city streets. On average, it could produce 120 to 130 tons of liquefied gas a day.

In an emergency, it could also use stored materials such as plastic bags as feedstock.

In fact, Hailu Gas was already working with the parent company to build liquefied-gas storage facilities in the urban district. The warehouses had to hold at least a two-month supply. That was the minimum safety threshold.

Lin Zifeng of Blue Era had brought Lu Xuedong, Du Jinhua, and the others to Xinlou Village in the urban district.

Previously, most of the sanitation workers there had moved into the sanitation-worker dormitory complex. Those still living in the village were family members who raised livestock and poultry.

Looking at the scene before them, they saw dirty water flowing across the ground and waste from the farms piled up in Xinlou River, which ran alongside a dirt road.

The river was pitch-black, and waves of foul stench rose from it. Ducks waded through the filthy water, foraging among the weeds in the riverbed.

On the opposite bank stood Shanmei Vocational and Technical College, the only university in the Shanmei area.

The stench made Lu Xuedong furrow his brows. "Manager Lin, Xiuyuan and I have already discussed this. We have to deal with the livestock farms run by sanitation workers' families. I think we should consolidate them into a centralized operation."

"But..."

Lu Xuedong took a document out of his briefcase. "Xiuyuan faxed this plan over a few days ago. Follow up on the details."

Lin Zifeng took the document and, with no choice but to follow instructions, skimmed through it.

Huang Xiuyuan's plan called for Blue Era to set up a subsidiary. The sanitation workers' families would invest the livestock and poultry they raised in exchange for shares in the new company.

The company would then bring all the livestock and poultry together at centralized farms and hire the workers' family members to work there.

Large-scale farming would make disease prevention, feed procurement, and pollution control easier.

For example, small family-run farms were practically helpless when faced with African swine fever. The pathogen could not be completely destroyed by boiling at high temperatures.

Once pigs became infected, some would be culled and buried by order of the authorities, while others would be slaughtered illegally by unscrupulous operators and sent back into the food supply. The contaminated waste could then spread the disease to other small farms.

If Blue Era handled the sick pigs, it could use them directly as raw materials to produce liquefied gas and organic fertilizer, recovering part of the losses.

That way, the infected pigs would be disposed of without leaving the owners with nothing.

In his recommendations for setting up the farming company, Huang Xiuyuan had also proposed enclosed farming, which could effectively reduce the risk of large-scale livestock and poultry epidemics.

After reading the clear, well-organized plan, Lin Zifeng no longer felt as resistant as before. If the project succeeded, Blue Era might be able to sustain itself without relying on funding from the parent company.

The purpose of their visit to Xinlou Village that day was not only to deal with the livestock farms run by sanitation workers' families. There was another important matter as well.

Three vacuum trucks, each with a capacity of twenty cubic meters, were parked beside the dirt road. The drivers and operators worked together to lower a suction hose into the polluted water in the river.

With the motor running, wastewater and sludge were continuously drawn into the storage tanks. Before long, the twenty-cubic-meter tanks were full.

The driver pressed a modified switch.

Inside the rear section of each tank, a hydraulic mechanism resembling a car jack began to push forward, compressing the contents.

Under three times atmospheric pressure, the water molecules in the wastewater and sludge were subjected to tremendous force. But since water was incompressible, the pressure had nowhere to go.

The driver pressed a button labeled "Power."

In an instant, the water molecules seemed to find an outlet, and they were squeezed out in a steady stream.

Du Jinhua took a sample of the discharged water from each of the three vacuum trucks' drainage pipes to bring back to the lab for testing.

"Mr. Lu, the water looks fine at a glance."

The water flowing out of the pipes was clear and clean. Lu Xuedong nodded.

In less than ten minutes, the vacuum trucks' weight displays showed that the twenty cubic meters of wastewater and sludge had been reduced to around 2.4 tons of solid pollutants.

After repeating the process five times, they finally filled the vacuum trucks' storage tanks. One stretch of Xinlou River had become clear to the bottom, revealing large pieces of debris on the riverbed.

The stench at the site had also weakened considerably.

Lin Zifeng exclaimed, "Looks like if we filter it a few more times and control the pollution at its source, this river can be brought back to life."

Lu Xuedong was not quite so optimistic. "There's a long road ahead. The parent company plans to set aside a special fund of around five million yuan to build a batch of dedicated storage tanks for livestock-farm wastewater and pollutants. Then we'll ask the urban district to help us install them at other farms."

"But quite a few farmers compost their own manure. I'm not sure they'll accept the plan so easily," Lin Zifeng said, voicing his concern.

Lu Xuedong had anticipated that. "There are two ways to address that. First, we can let farmers keep some of their manure for composting. Second, each household can use the name registered to its storage tank to claim five large bags of organic fertilizer from Hailu Organic Fertilizer Company for free each year."

"That's a good plan. Those farmers won't have any reason to refuse."

Lu Xuedong mentioned another point to keep in mind. "To claim the organic fertilizer, farmers must keep their plastic storage tanks in working order. We need to teach them to take care of public facilities."

Lin Zifeng thought that was a very good consideration and suggestion. For the sake of getting five free bags of organic fertilizer each year, the farmers would certainly be more careful.

After that conversation, Lin Zifeng immediately contacted the local authorities.

Cai Haiyi was very satisfied with Suiren Company. Since taking over the urban district's garbage collection, it had brought considerable improvements to the entire area over the past few months.

Once Blue Era explained the purpose of its proposal, the local authorities agreed to cooperate. After all, since it would not cost the government anything, there was no reason to object.

Thanks to all my dear readers for your support, and thanks to readers "Yuming Daoren," "Corner, Black Cat," and "Shui Zai Paopao Li De Yu" for their tips (ω｀)