A planned garbage incinerator project in south China which aroused local residents' protest last month would be delayed until the end of 2012 after thorough discussion from the public, local authorities said Thursday.

"We realized the handling of garbage is of crucial importance to people's life," said Tan Yinghua, Party secretary of Panyu District, Guangzhou City, where the planned incinerator was located.

"From today on, we will start from the beginning," Tan said at a meeting with representatives from the local residents. "We will mobilize all the residents in Panyu to discuss the location and construction of the incinerator."

The government will launch a half-year debate among the public and choose two communities and a primary school to carry out a garbage classification experimental project.

Between January 2011 and December 2012, the government will let the residents understand the procedures of the incinerator construction and participate in the feasibility study, location selection and environment assessment, according to a government scheme released to the media and representatives at the meeting.

The location of the garbage incinerator project will be determined after that.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in November after they got to know the government's plan to set up a garbage incinerator at a former landfill in Huijiang Village, in Dashi Township, with a designed handling capacity of 2,000 tonnes daily.

The Panyu District is home to 2.5 million people and almost 600,000 tonnes of household garbage are created every year. It is predicted that 2,200 tonnes of household garbage will be created every day next year in the district, said Ye Wen, deputy director of the Panyu District Bureau of Urban Utilities and Landscaping.