China is getting loans worth $200 million (£131m) to turn its cities’ waste into a sustainable source of renewable energy.

The cash from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help small and medium-sized cities build at least nine plants capable of converting up to 6,300 tons of municipal solid waste daily into energy. The plants are expected to generate around 610GWh of electricity a year by 2018 and cut greenhouse gas emissions by around 450,000 tons every year.

China is the world’s second largest producer of solid waste, generating more than 220 million tons annually, according to the ADB. It is expected to grow considerably in small and medium-sized cities where huge population growth is expected by 2030.

Hisaka Kimura, Principal Investment Specialist of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department said: “Unlike large cities which are implementing waste-to-energy projects through public-private partnerships, smaller municipal governments have difficulty attracting private sector interest, which results in large amounts of untreated waste leading to harmful gas emissions and soil and groundwater contamination.”

Dynagreen, the environmental infrastructure arm of Beijing state-owned assets management company, will develop and operate these facilities under public-private partnerships.