Along with rapid economic development, urbanization and improving living standards, the amount of municipal household waste in China has been steadily increasing. Although investment in waste treatment facilities has also been rising, it is still hard to keep up with the demand. Because landfills require quite a lot of land, and can easily create secondary pollution, finding sites for them is becoming increasingly difficult. Incineration effectively reduces waste, takes up less space, and has clear technological and economic advantages. However, in recent years, there have been continuous mass incidents opposing waste incineration power plants in China. In 2009, in particular, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Wujiang, and other areas all saw ‘anti-incineration’ movements. Strong public opposition caused some waste incineration power plant projects (we will abbreviate to ‘incinerators’ hereafter) to be stopped or postponed during the feasibility, planning or construction stage. Of these, the ‘Panyu Incident’ in Guangzhou had the biggest social impact. Continuous coverage of the incident in the media over several months, and fierce arguments and relentless debate between ‘pro-incineration’ and ‘anti-incineration’ groups suddenly pushed the issue of waste incineration to the centre of public debate.