As the spotlight casts on China's huge retail market, world giants begin to tap into China's waste treatment market.

The France-based Veolia Environment, a global leader in waste management, has announced earlier to extend its waste treatment business in China.

Veolia posted a turnover of 250 million U.S. dollars in waste treatment in China last year, up more than 20 percent on 2005.

The company expected the figure to grow 20 percent annually in the coming five years as the Chinese government spends more money in turning waste into energy.

With 14 projects in operation, the company already had a strong foothold in the China's rich coastal areas. These projects mainly treat waste trough landfilling or incineration to generate electricity or heat.

Veolia will bid for more government projects, acquire domestic environmental companies to expand network and build more waste treatment facilities, said Jorge Mora, CEO of Veolia Environment Asia.

"The Chinese market is huge and open. We have not met unexpected difficulties since our entry in 1994," said Jorge Mora.

Veolia's survey shows that the average Chinese produced half a kilogram of garbage each day. Given the 1.3 billion population, the amount is huge, but only 20 percent are properly treated.

China long neglected proper treatment waste. During the past few decades, the waste in many parts of the country is simply buried underground, or left aside in the open air in rural areas.

The government has doubled efforts to improve the situation by inputting more money and enhancing public awareness of waste sorting.

Some local governments built waste treatment plants by themselves, while others decide the way for waste treatment and then invite public bidding.

Mora said his company, though offering a comparative higher prices in bidding, could get enough contracts as Chinese leaders have become increasingly aware of environmental damage and want to ensure the wastes are properly handled.

Mora held that the potential for waste treatment is huge. As more Chinese people migrants into cities and they would produce more garbage as they get richer.

When people's basic living is in difficulty, they tend to save. But as life gets easier, many of them would change their lifestyle, throw more things and therefore produce more garbage, explained Mora.

Mora denied some media reports that Veolia would import waste from Europe and recycle them in China.

"We are committed to cleaning up China, but not polluting China," he said.

Recycling might be one part in the process of waste treatment, but the company has never, and will not import waste into China and recycle the useful contents to make money, Mora added.