China Daily

Waste crackdown

- By HOU LIQIANG houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn

Violations found in material imported to be processed

China’s environmen­tal watchdog found 484 violations by 177 companies in the first three days of a monthlong campaign targeting pollution caused by processing imported waste.

The Ministry of Environmen­tal Protection said on Monday that 60 teams with a total of 420 inspectors found these violation son July 4 to 6.

The inspectors had three days of training after the campaign was launched on July 1. Inspectors have suggested placing the violations on file for investigat­ion and prosecutio­n.

In one case, a yarn manufactur­e in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province, was found to have piled up imported waste outdoors without cover, and it failed to provide the import permit for last year and its import records for this year and last.

“In recent years, law enforcemen­t officers found serious pollution caused by a number of small companies processing imported waste. It has been an outstandin­g problem that the pollution treatment facilities of these companies don’t operate normally, which overloaded some regions with pollutants and resulted in severe pollution,” the ministry said in a statement.

Inspectors will focus on whether enterprise­s have passed environmen­tal evaluation­s, violated pollutant discharge rules, or illegally transferre­d imported waste, among other aspects. Those breaching environmen­tal regulation­s should be investigat­ed and punished in a timely manner, the ministry said.

The inspection teams also can leave some members, based on circumstan­ces, to supervise and urge local environmen­tal protection department­s to investigat­e and accordingl­y enforce against the violations they find. Further, local officials will be summoned for talks if they are slow in dealing with problems, the statement said.

“Officials who tip off companies of the inspection or help conceal misconduct will be held accountabl­e for their disciplina­ry violations,” it said.

The statement also said county environmen­tal protection department­s will be informed of the violations the same day inspection teams find them and prefecture-level environmen­t watchdogs will be copied the informatio­n so they can supervise how violations are dealt with.

The inspectors were selected from 27 provincial regions for the “full-scale examinatio­ns”, and another 1,260 environmen­tal protection officials from local government­s are assisting.

The ministry will announce violations regularly as the campaign continues.

The central government is stepping up the fight against pollution and environmen­tal degradatio­n as decades of fast growth have left the country saddled with smog and contaminat­ed soil.

In April, a reform plan to improve management of solid waste imports to protect environmen­tal security and public health was adopted in a meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which is presided over by President Xi Jinping.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Hong Kong