China battles with industrial pollution

China battles with industrial pollution

As China's economy develops, concern grows over the cost to the environment, estimated at more than $27 billion each year.

LAST May, the Capital Iron and Steel Complex, one of China’s largest industrial enterprises, was fined 200,000 yuan (S$55,600) for building three converters without approval from the Environmental Protection Department.

Also in that month, 3,000 Chinese enterprises, including power, petrochemical and aluminium plants, were blacklisted by newspapers as the major sources of industrial pollution.

These harsh measures are needed to curb a growing problem in China.

Says Mr Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa): "These moves are in keeping with our efforts to battle against increasing industrial pollution."

As its economy gathers momentum, China faces a serious challenge: How to modernise the industry without contaminating the environment.

In the last 10 years, China’s GNP has more than doubled, reaching 2,350 billion yuan last year. However, the volume of discharged industrial wastes did not increase as quickly during the period, owing to the adoption of various protection measures, Mr Xie says.

Since the ‘80s, four laws and more than 20 regulations have been enacted to form the legal frame for environmental protection.

The country has also instituted a nationwide pollution monitoring network with 2,131 substations. The amount spent on pollution treatment has increased from 2.19 billion yuan in 1982 to 6.47 billion yuan last year.

Before a new plant can begin production, Mr Xie says, anti-pollution devices must be installed. Polluting factories face fines, and must remedy problem or face closure.

In Beijing alone, more than 8,000 industrial polluters took measures to reduce pollution during the last 10 years, with 212 factories and workshops having moved away from urban areas, and another 700 closed.

Nationwide, 41,800 waste water treatment devices have been installed. With a daily handling capacity of 52 million tonnes, they can treat 63.5 per cent of China’s industrial waste water.

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 industrial boilers have been renovated, capable of purifying 64.7 per cent of the factories’ toxic waste.

"Though we have made some gains in pollution control," says Mr Xie, "the situation remains grim, since the total amount of discharged industrial pollutants continues to increase as the economy grows."

According to one estimate, more than 100 billion is lost annually to environmental damage.

One of the major headaches for Chinese pollution fighters is what the experts call "structure pollution": The energy structure is such that coal accounts for 70 per cent of China’s energy. National annual consumption of coal has reached 1.1 billion tonnes.

The burning of coal annually produces 17 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide, second only to the United States’ 21 million tonnes.

As a result, acid rain has begun to wreak havoc in various parts of China, from the southwest to the south and the east.

The installation of desulphurisation devices on industrial chimneys is expensive, accounting for some 30 per cent of the total investment of a thermal power plant, says Sepa.

China plans to invest 1.5 billion yuan to reduce the discharge of sulphur dioxide. The project, beginning this year and continuing until 2000, aims at limiting the annual discharge to 21 million tonnes by 2000.

In its battle against industrial pollution, China has found allies in international financial institutions.

So far, 15 environmental protection projects have received loans totalling US$1.5 billion (S$2.4 billion) from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. One such project will establish models for "clean production", which advocates recycling wastes.

A national working conference on environmental protection is being held this month in Shanghai, Sepa sources say.

"Those who advocate speedy development of our national economy should heed the siren sounding against pollution," says Mr Xie. "We must fight pollution with much more force."

— China Features

MORE TOWNSHIP FACTORIES

ANOTHER cause for concern is the current boom in township industrial enterprises. From 1985 to last year, these small-scale enterprises, usually run by collectives, households or individuals in the China’s rural areas, increased their industrial production to account for more than one-third of the national total. The pollutants they produce also rose from 10 per cent of the national total in 1988 to the present 20 per cent.

Township enterprises use largely backward equipment, which consumes more energy and raw materials and produces more pollutants. For instance, a village-run paper mill with an annual output of 1,000 tonnes would find it impossible to invest in an expensive alkaline recovery device. As a result, the "black liquid" discharged by 1,000 such mills in central China’s Henan province has contaminated many rivers.

Efforts are now being made to close down serious polluters, and to study anti-pollution methods appropriate for such enterprises.

WAR AGAINST POLLUTION

Since the ‘8Os, four laws and more than 20 regulations have been enacted to form the legal frame for China’s environmental protection.
A nationwide pollution monitoring network with 2,131 sub-stations staffed by more than 32,000 professionals.
The amount spent on pollution treatment Increased from 2.2 billion yuan (S$608 million) in 1982 to 6.4 billion yuan last year.
41,800 waste water treatment devices have been installed to treat 63.5 per cent of China’s Industrial waste water.
More than 200,000 Industrial boilers have been renovated, capable of purifying 64.7 per cent of the factories’ toxic waste.
Concerned International financial institutions have helped. 15 environmental protection projects in China have received loans totalling US$1.5 billion (S$2.4 billion) from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Source : The Straits Times 28th Oct 1993

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