Fourteen private waste management stations have been told to shut down in Dachang Township in Baoshan District after residents complained about pungent smells and heavy dust in the neighborhood.

The waste stations have until Saturday to clean up their mess, or would be torn down, the town officials said.

“The stations were found burning wastes in open-air fields and stinking wastes were piled up that polluted the air in the surrounding areas,” a press officer with the town government surnamed Lin told Shanghai Daily.

Under Shanghai’s new environment protection law, bonfires and straw burning are banned. Burning items such as leaves, straw, plastics, rubber and tar seriously pollute the air quality.

Violators face a fine of up to 20,000 yuan under the law, but the town government has not announced any punishment against the stations.

Two chemical and cement plants in villages have also been told by the environmental authorities not to let smokes out directly.

People started moving into the newly developed community along the Tangqi and Qilianshan roads around late 2014. They said they were promised by the developer, Poly Group, that the neighborhood will be surrounded by parks and greenland when they bought the apartments in 2012. But they found themselves buried deep in dust, thanks to the cement factory and a chemical plant only 200 meters away.

Container trucks, digging machines and concrete mixers on the Qilianshan Road left behind a trail of dust and pollution.

“There is always a pungent smells like a gas leak in the air. I never take my little baby out,” a resident surnamed Ye told Shanghai Daily.

A young couple, who had only just completed the interior decoration of their apartment, said thick layers of dust can be seen on the desks if they opened the windows.

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