World Environment Day: Special rectification of ten key industries

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This post was last edited by zhaolijun on 2015-6-5 at 22:45. June 5th is World Environment Day; this year’s theme in China is “Adopting a Green Lifestyle”. It is also the first World Environment Day since the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law. Aimed at widely spreading and promoting the concept of a \"green lifestyle\" through concentrated publicity on \"Environment Day,\" it seeks to raise people’s awareness and understanding of such a lifestyle, encouraging them to translate this understanding into practical actions. The State Council recently issued the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control (hereinafter referred to as the “Action Plan”). The Action Plan specifies the need to fully control pollutant emissions and carry out targeted rectification efforts in ten key industries. The Action Plan specifies the need to strictly control industrial pollution prevention and control. Ban the “ten small” enterprises. Conduct a thorough inspection of small industrial enterprises with low equipment standards and poor environmental protection facilities. By the end of 2016, in accordance with the laws and regulations on water pollution control, all production facilities that cause severe pollution to the water environment and do not conform to **industrial policies – such as small-scale papermaking, tanning, printing and dyeing, dye production, coking, sulfur processing, arsenic processing, oil refining, electroplating, and pesticide manufacturing – were to be shut down. The Action Plan calls for special rectification in ten key industries. Special treatment plans shall be formulated for industries such as papermaking, coking, nitrogen fertilizers, non-ferrous metals, printing and dyeing, processing of agricultural and sideline products, manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients, leather processing, pesticides, and electroplating, in order to carry out clean-up upgrades. For new construction, renovation, and expansion projects in the aforementioned industries, equivalent or reduced emission substitution for major pollutants shall be implemented. By the end of 2017, the paper industry should strive to complete the conversion of pulp bleaching processes to those that do not use elemental chlorine, or adopt other low-pollution pulping technologies. Steel companies should implement dry quenching technologies for their coke ovens, the nitrogen fertilizer industry should upgrade its urea production processes by adopting techniques for the hydrolysis and decomposition of process condensates, the printing and dyeing industry should adopt low-wastage dyeing processes, the pharmaceutical industry (for antibiotics and vitamins) should adopt green enzyme-based production technologies, and the leather industry should implement technologies to reduce chromium usage and enable its closed-loop recycling. The Action Plan emphasizes focusing on the control of water pollution in industrial clusters. Strengthen pollution control in industrial clusters such as economic and technological development zones, high-tech industry development zones, and export processing zones. Industrial wastewater within the industrial cluster must be pre-treated to meet the requirements for centralized treatment before it can be sent to the centralized wastewater treatment facilities. When establishing or upgrading industrial clusters, facilities for pollution control such as centralized wastewater and waste treatment should be planned and constructed simultaneously. By the end of 2017, industrial clusters should have established centralized sewage treatment facilities as required, along with automatic online monitoring systems. Regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta were required to complete this task one year ahead of schedule. Those that failed to do so by the deadline would have their applications for approving new construction projects that involve increased emissions of water pollutants suspended, and their status as industrial clusters would be revoked in accordance with relevant regulations.