China Environmental Law

Chapters Three and Four of the China’s new Circular Economy Law impose specific requirements on a number of different enterprises and products/activities. Is your business covered?  Check out our handy compilation below.

Enterprises

Industrial Enterprises:

• “shall use advanced or applicable water-saving technologies, techniques and equipment, work out and implement water-saving plans, strengthen water-saving management and exercise control over the use of water in the whole process of production;” they shall also “strengthen quantitative management of water use, be equipped with and use acceptable water measurement instruments, and set up a water consumption statistics system and a water use status analysis system” (Article 20).
• “make comprehensive utilization of the fly ash, coal slack, tailings, mullock, waste materials, waste gas and other industrial wastes generated in the production process” (Article 30).
• “develop an interconnected water use system and a circulatory water use system so as to improve the repeated use of water,” and “use advanced technologies, techniques and equipment for the circulatory use of the waste water generated in the production process” (Article 31).
• “use advanced or applicable recovery technologies, techniques and equipment to make comprehensive utilization of the waste heat and pressure generated in the production process” (Article 32).
• “build facilities for the reutilization and disposal of sewage sludge so as to improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of sewage sludge and prevent secondary pollution” (Article 41).

Heavy Industries:

• “electric power, oil processing, chemical industry, steel, non-ferrous metal and building materials must replace fuel oil with clean energy” and “stop using fuel generator sets and oil boilers that fail to satisfy the relevant state provisions” within a time to be proscribed by the relevant authorities. (Article 21).

Architecture & Construction Firms:

• shall “use energy-saving, water-saving, land-saving and material-saving technologies and techniques as well as small, light and recyclable products for construction.” Where possible, they should make use of “solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy and other renewable energy resources,” and use bulk cement, ready-mixed concrete, ready-mixed mortar, and “innocuous and harmless solid wastes to produce building materials” (Article 23).
• shall make comprehensive utilization of the construction wastes generated in the construction process. Wastes which can not be utilized can be entrusted to “a producer or operator” who can utilize them or can dispose of them harmlessly (Article 33).

Product & Packaging Design Firms:

• shall base their designs on the concepts of reducing resource consumption and waste generation, and give preference to materials that can me recycled, reused, or rendered harmless (Article 19).

Mining Enterprises:

• shall submit comprehensive plans relating to a host of extraction and reclamation issues, and shall utilize, where feasible, “conjoined and associated ores” and take measures to prevent damage to the ecological environment from temporarily stored or discarded materials (Article 22).

Agricultural Producers:

• relevant authorities “shall promote the intensive use of land, encourage agricultural producers to utilize advanced water-saving, fertilizer-saving and pesticide-saving, planting, cultivating and irrigating technologies, improve the energy efficiency of agricultural machinery and give priority to the development of ecological agriculture” Areas short of water “shall adjust the planting structure, give priority to the development of water-saving agriculture, make more efforts in storing and using rainwater, build and maintain water saving irrigation facilities so as to improve the water use efficiency and reduce the evaporation and loss of water” (Article 24).
• should “take advantage of advanced or applicable technologies to make comprehensive utilization of crop straws, livestock and poultry excrements, byproducts of the agro-product processing industry and waste agricultural films, and develop and use biogas and other biomass energies” (Article 34).

Engine & Vehicle Manufacturers:

• enterprises that make combustion engines and motor vehicles shall “use oil-saving technologies to reduce the consumption of petroleum products” in compliance with fuel economy standards (Article 21).

Grid Enterprises:

• echoing the Energy Conservation Law, the law provides that the “grid enterprises” must “conclude a grid connection agreement with an enterprise which generates power by comprehensive utilization of resources, provide grid access services and purchase the on-grid electricity of a grid-connected power generation project in full amount” (Article 32).

Forestry Producers:

• regional governments “shall make vigorous efforts to develop ecology-friendly forestry, encourage forestry producers and relevant enterprises to use timber-saving technologies and timber-replacing technologies, and make comprehensive utilization of forestry wastes, wood castoffs, small firewood and desert bush so as to improve the comprehensive utilization rate of wood” (Article 35).

Public Entities:

• frugality and an end to extravagance are urged for “State organs and other organizations using funds from the public finance.” These entities should “take the lead in using energy-saving, water-saving, land-saving, material-saving and environment-friendly products, equipment and facilities, . . . use office supplies in an economic way,” and “take measures to better maintain and manage buildings and prolong their life.” They should also “work out energy use quotas and water use quotas” backed up by “public finance departments” which “shall work out disbursement standards according to such quotas” (Article 25).

Service Industries:

• enterprises in the catering, entertainment, hotel and other service industries shall use energy-saving, water-saving, material-saving and environment-friendly products and reduce or stop using energy-waste or contaminating products, and those which come into existence after the enactment of this law, “shall use energy-saving, water-saving, material-saving and environment-friendly technologies, equipment and facilities” (Article 26).

Products/Activities

Electric Products and Apparatuses:

• “for any electric apparatus or electronic product that may cause environmental pollution in the process of dismantling and disposal, it is prohibited to use any poisonous or harmful substance.” A Directory of Poisonous and Harmful Substances Prohibited from use in Electric Apparatus and Electronic Products will be produced (Article 19).
• “any recycled electric apparatus or electronic product to be sold after repair must meet the standards for reutilized products and be labeled as a reutilized product at an eye-catching place;” if it needs to be dismantled it shall be delivered or sold to a dismantling enterprise (Article 39).

Desalination:

• “the state encourages and supports the desalination and direct use of sea water in coastal areas so as to save fresh water resources” (Article 20).

New Construction:

• construction of new, rebuilt or enlarged facilities “shall have water-saving facilities, which shall be planned, built and put into use simultaneously with the main body of the project” (Article 20).

Brick Baking:

• “It is prohibited to damage or destroy arable land to bake bricks. It is prohibited to produce, sell or use clay bricks within the time limit or areas prescribed by” the relevant authorities (Article 23).

Single Use Goods:

• A Directory of Restricted One-off Consumption Goods shall be developed. Listed goods will be subject to “restrictive tax and export policies” and their use will be subject to certain yet to be determined restrictions (Article 28).

Motor Vehicle Parts & Components:

• “the state supports enterprises to reproduce the parts and components of motor vehicles, engineering equipment, machine tools, etc. and to renew tires. Any reproduced or renewed product to be sold shall satisfy the prescribed quality standards of the state and be labeled as a reproduced or renewed product at an eye-catching place” (Article 40).

That’s it for the Circular Economy Law for awhile!