In 10,000 villages across China garbage collection and transportation facilities will be established by 2010 to improve sanitation in the countryside, a plan issued in Beijing Thursday explains.

According to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA)? action plan on environmental protection in rural areas garbage from the villages included in the initiative will be collected and disposed of in designated dumps. The plan also sets out goals for building sewage treatment facilities in 10,000 villages.

SEPA officials said the government would launch more programs in rural regions in the next five years to deal with pollution caused by commercial activities. This included polluted soil and rehabilitation projects.?

Garbage collection in a village in east China's Zhejiang Province

A garbage depot in a village in Tianjin Municipality

A garbage depot in a village in central China's Jiangxi Province

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn?October 27, 206)