Pan'an county in East China's Zhejiang province is trying to promote the recycling of agriculture to keep a balance between industrial development and ecological protection.

Pan'an encourages farmers to make full use of waste materials and explores some recycling modes for vegetable plantation to turn waste into wealth and achieve sustainable industrial development.

A large production base for mushrooms, the Shanzhizhou agriculture company develops a new system which applies wastes in plantation. For instance, the crop wastes like corncobs and straws are used as nutrient mediums for various mushrooms and those left by ripe mushrooms will be processed and made into fertilizers for farmlands.

The new system is an effective way to protect the ecology and also increase the economic income, said Bao Jinliang, general manager of the company.

The county has established 11 large-scale mushroom production bases and eight demonstration sites for recycling agriculture.

In addition to the planting industry, recycling systems also prevail in the livestock sector. Since 2009, Pan'an has required all livestock bases inside the county to develop biogas projects for ecological treatment of excretions. The biogas converted from waste, a type of clean energy, is utilized by nearby farmers in their daily lives.