He was sentenced to 6 years for hazardous waste! Learning these regulations can save you from prison

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2015 was a year of fear for many people involved in pollution. With the implementation of the new environmental protection law, this law truly acquired a ‘sharp edge’, putting many employees from polluting enterprises in trouble; some even faced up to 6 years in prison, filled with deep regret. As one of the top ten environmental pollution cases in the country, the serious environmental pollution case involving Jinfanda Company was the first major environmental case in the nation following the issuance of the Interpretations by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution. From October 2011 to May 2013, Jinfanda Company was sentenced in a public trial by the Longyou Court in Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, for the illegal disposal of glyphosate mother liquor, which constituted a serious environmental pollution case resulting from the illegal handling of hazardous substances. In the first instance, the defendant company, Zhejiang Jinfanda Biochemical Co., Ltd., was sentenced to a fine of 75 million yuan for the crime of environmental pollution. Eighteen individuals, including the deputy general manager and general manager of Jinfanda Company, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 1 year and 4 months to 6 years, along with fines ranging from 10,000 yuan to 1 million yuan. Coincidentally, recently, the First People’s Court of Dongguan City also rendered a judgment in the first environmental pollution case related to hazardous waste treatment in the area. Wei, the legal representative of a certain industrial company in Dongguan City, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined 10,000 yuan for the crime of environmental pollution. Faced with the judgment, Wei expressed his acceptance of it and decided not to appeal, only regretting that he had not understood the law before and realized how important proper handling of hazardous waste is. Since not understanding the law has such serious consequences! Taking advantage of these free days, Youyi Jun has quickly prepared a set of notes on learning how to do this. Ant fans only need to remember the following rules, and then they can rest assured that they’ll be able to keep making lots of money, enjoy a good life, and sleep soundly every night. Without further ado, here are the key points! I. 14 circumstances can lead to criminal charges for pollution. Over the years, environmental protection has not been a key focus of social development; many waste producers found that repeated environmental violations resulted only in fines, without any sentencing or imprisonment, so they were not afraid of breaking environmental laws. However, the Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law changed the criteria for criminalizing environmental pollution from \"causing serious environmental accidents that result in significant losses to public or private property, or serious consequences such as casualties\" to simply \"serious environmental pollution\". Pay attention! The following 14 types of behaviors should be considered as acts of \"severe environmental pollution\": 1. Discharging, dumping, or disposing of radioactive waste, waste containing pathogens of infectious diseases, and toxic substances in the first-class protection areas for drinking water sources and the core areas of nature reserves ； 2. Illegally discharging, dumping, or disposing of more than three tons of hazardous waste ； 3. Illegally discharging pollutants such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, which pose serious threats to the environment and human health, in quantities exceeding **the pollutant discharge standards** or by more than three times the standards set by the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government in accordance with legal authorities ； 4. Setting up illegal hidden pipelines or using seepage wells, seepage pits, cracks, karst caves, etc. to discharge, dump, or dispose of radioactive waste, waste containing pathogens of infectious diseases, and toxic substances ； 5. Those who, within two years, have been subject to two or more administrative penalties for violating **regulations by discharging, dumping, or disposing of radioactive waste, waste containing pathogens of infectious diseases, or toxic substances, and then commit the aforementioned acts again ； 6. Causing a disruption in the supply of water from centralized drinking water sources at the township level and above for more than twelve hours ； 7. Causing the loss of their basic functions or permanent damage to more than 5 mu of basic farmland, protective forest land, or forest land for special purposes, more than 10 mu of other agricultural land, or more than 20 mu of other types of land ； 8. Causing the death of 50 cubic meters or more of forests or other trees, or the death of 2,500 or more young trees ； 9. Causing losses of over 300,000 yuan to public or private property ； 10. Causing the evacuation or relocation of more than 5,000 people ； 11. Causing poisoning in more than thirty people ； 12. Causing minor injuries to three or more persons, mild disabilities, or damage to organs or tissues resulting in general functional impairments ； 13. Causing serious injury to one or more persons, moderate disability, or organ or tissue damage resulting in severe functional impairment ； 14. Other circumstances of serious environmental pollution. II. Severe punishment for multiple crimes committed simultaneously: Environmental pollution offenses may violate multiple legal provisions; for instance, the intentional release, dumping, or disposal of pollutants containing toxic, radioactive substances, or pathogens of infectious diseases constitutes an act of directly introducing such toxic, radioactive, or infectious agents, thereby violating both the crime of environmental pollution and the crime of releasing hazardous substances. III. Spreading toxins in hospitals and schools constitutes an even more serious crime. Compared to previous regulations, the Interpretation strengthens the special protection for environmentally sensitive areas and vulnerable populations. It specifies that acts such as obstructing environmental inspections or releasing toxic substances in densely populated areas like hospitals and schools carry greater subjective malice and social harm compared to ordinary environmental pollution crimes, and therefore warrant severe punishment in accordance with the law. Many people must still remember the incident that occurred in 2015 at Binhai Middle School in Haiyan County, Jiaxing, Zhejiang – students protested by wearing masks during classes because of environmental pollution in the area surrounding the school. Thanks to this small incident, authorities in the area launched investigations to identify sources of pollution around the school; it is said that as a result, several polluting factories were shut down. This shows, beyond the role of laws, the attention and concern shown by party committees toward such sensitive areas and vulnerable populations. I advise everyone that, when it comes to special areas and certain groups of people, (important thing repeated three times) be extremely cautious before generating waste! Be careful! Be more careful! Waste discharge must be carried out in accordance with the law! According to the law! Again, in accordance with the law! It should also be noted that, in addition to the situations mentioned above, there are three other types of environmental violations that are also subject to severe penalties: 1. Committing crimes such as environmental pollution ； 2. Obstructing environmental supervision and inspection or investigations into sudden environmental incidents ； 3. Discharging, dumping, or disposing of radioactive waste, waste containing pathogens of infectious diseases, toxic substances, or other harmful materials in violation of **regulations.