Newsletter from China (03/29/2004)
1. Industrially dangerous waste to be all wrapped up and put away
In the wake of rapid industrialization of China, the solid waste increasing levels
are on the rise since the proportion of resource utilization remains low in China. The
waste disposal manner and related infrastructure constructing have fallen behind theindustrial development. So the dangerous wastes have brought increasingly serious
damage to the environment. Now, how to safely and properly deal with dangerous
wastes has become a crucial task in environmental protection.
A regulation to standardize disposal of dangerous wastes was issued by the StateCouncil in February 2004. The Chinese Government is planning to pool moreinvestment, 14.92 billion RMB (over $1.8 billion), within three years, to control
pollution caused by industrial dangerous wastes. Efforts will focus on safe storage anddisposal of industrial wastes to minimize their contamination in the environment.
According to the regulation, China plans to build 31 dangerous wastes disposal
centers with a combined annual capacity of 2.82 million tons. Chinese enterprises arerequired to build or rebuild facilities to re-use or dispose dangerous byproducts with a
total annual capacity of 3.5 million tons. Moreover, the government will strengthensupervision, technical development, collection, transportation and disposal of
dangerous wastes. Efforts will be pooled to establish a system to deal with emergencies
and a contingent of specialized personnel, and to promote a standard waste
management system. Related preferential policies and penalties will be worked out tosecure effectiveness of these systems. The regulation also specifies transportation
vehicles, incinerators, gas disposal and safe waste bury, as well as necessary equipment
and techniques involved.
The issue and implementation of these policies and standards are geared toward
the construction and operation of standard waste disposal facilities, and have provided
reliable guarantees for both environmental security and ecological development in thefuture.

2. A serious business — Medical waste disposal
In June 2003, the Regulations of Disposing of Medical Wastes in China became
effective, which clearly stipulate the supervision and management of medical waste
collection, transportation, storing and disposal and the corresponding legal liability.
According to the regulations, all units and individuals have the right to complain andaccuse any transgression by waste disposal units, medical institutions and related
supervision departments as well as their staff, putting medical waste disposal underpublic supervision and standard management.

3. Industrial Wastes Recycling Law
The Second Session of the 10th National People’s Congress (NPC) was held in
Beijing on March 5, 2004. The Industrial wastes recycling law advanced by NPC
deputies was submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for deliberation in due time.

4. “Circular Economy” appears in China
Circular economy has been a new economy pattern according to the environmental
sustainable development in China. “Cleaner Production” and “Eco-agriculture” arepopular in industrial and agricultural domains, respectively. These two measures are all
inevitable options and the best ways for wastes pollution control. Cleaner production,
especially, with great vitality and buoyancy, starts a new era of “Pollution Prevention”
in the history of environmental protection and will become the best approach forpollution control in this new century.

5. A new project on development and application of eco-habitation
optimization technology in Zhejiang Province
Recently, a new project on development and application of eco-habitation
optimization technology has been issued in Zhejiang Province. Zhejiang University wasapproved to carry out this project. One part of this project was about the disposal andutilization of wasted water and optimal human rubbish disposal.

6. The International Conference on Organics Recycling
The International Conference on Organics Recycling: Innovative Technologies
and Management Options, organized by Zhejiang University, will be held on October
9-11, 2004 in Hangzhou, China. This international conference is expected to highlightthe problems we are facing and provide some information as to what needs to be done
to bring the problem under control. Moreover the conference is aiming at establishingpartnerships between scientists, organizations, and governments. The Conference seeks
to provide an international forum for information exchange and update, and for
discussing and reviewing issues related to the theory and application of technology oforganics waste recycling.
The conference will provide an opportunity to bring together representatives in thefield of wastes management and decision making, science and engineering, inclusive ofprofessionals from government agencies, private institutions, consultants, andrepresentatives of research-, education- and training institutes.