China’s Liaoning province issues regulations on control of solid waste environmental pollution 
On Sept. 26, 2024, the Standing Committee of the Congress of Liaoning province, China issued Provincial Regulations on the Control of Solid Waste Environmental Pollution in accordance with the Solid Waste Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control Law and other laws and regulations, with the aim of protecting and improving the ecological environment, controlling solid waste environmental pollution, securing public health, maintaining the safety of ecosystems, promoting ecological civilization development, and promoting socioeconomic development. The regulations will come into effect Dec. 1, 2024.
The provincial regulations consist of 67 articles in nine chapters, namely General Provisions, Oversight, Industrial Solid Waste, Household Waste, Construction Waste, Agricultural Solid Waste and Other Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, Legal Responsibilities, and Supplementary Provisions. These include provisions on the solid waste oversight mechanisms, digital technology, and new types of solid waste. The important points of the regulations are outlined below.
Solid waste oversight
- The governments of the province, cities and counties will promote whole-process management for environmental pollution control in solid waste generation, collection, storage, transfer, utilization, disposal, etc. (Article 4).
- The provincial government will cooperate with the governments of adjacent provinces to establish cross-jurisdiction systems for the joint prevention and control of solid waste environmental pollution (Article 5).
- Responsibilities of government departments in the oversight of solid waste environmental pollution control have been clarified (Articles 6, 14, 18, 19, 26, 34, 42, etc.).
Planning
- The governments of the province, cities and counties will prepare special plans for solid waste environmental pollution control, and clarify targets, tasks, support measures, etc. for ecosystem protection and pollution control (Article 10).
- Household waste disposal plans will be prepared. Capacity building for household waste segregation will be promoted and coordinated (Article 28).
- The implementation of plans will be promoted. Construction projects for centralized hazardous waste disposal facilities will be required to comply with planning requirements for the construction of such facilities (Article 54).
Digital technology
- The ecology and environment department of the provincial government will develop a solid waste digital oversight mechanism, and promote whole-process solid waste oversight in cooperation with other relevant departments (Article 12).
- The government department in charge of oversight will develop precise intelligent mechanisms of solid waste environmental pollution control using remote monitoring, satellite remote sensing and other digital tools (Article 17).
- An industrial solid waste management information system and a hazardous waste digital smart oversight system will be established. Key entities under hazardous waste oversight will use IoT tools to carry out intelligent data collection, and implement the digital traceability of relevant solid waste (Articles 56, 61 and 62).
Industrial solid waste
- Industrial solid waste generators will keep a record of waste generation, storage, transportation, utilization, disposal, etc. on electronic manifests (Article 20).
- Responsibilities and obligations of clients and contractors in industrial solid waste utilization or disposal contracts have been made more specific. How clients should confirm qualifications, skills and capabilities of their contractors have been clarified (Article 23).
- Local governments and waste generators are responsible for disposing of historic industrial solid waste (Article 24).
Hazardous waste
- The ecology and environment department and other relevant departments of the provincial government will establish a hierarchical and categorical management system for hazardous waste, and implement differentiated management of entities that generate, collect, store, transport, utilize or dispose of hazardous waste (Article 55).
- A more effective system for hazardous waste identification will be implemented. When hazardous waste identification is required and responsibilities of those identifying hazardous waste have been clarified (Article 57).
- An evaluation mechanism for hazardous waste utilization and disposal facilities will be established. The structure of hazardous waste utilization and disposal capacity will be optimized (Article 58).
- The comprehensive utilization, cement kiln co-processing, incineration and landfill of hazardous waste will be managed more effectively (Articles 60 and 61).
Household waste, construction waste and agricultural solid waste
- A charging mechanism for household waste disposal will be developed. The oversight of household waste landfills and incineration facilities will be increased (Articles 27 and 29).
- New requirements based on higher-level laws have been introduced for the transportation of construction waste, the construction and operation of construction waste disposal facilities, and the management of waste from building renovation (Articles 36, 37, 38 and 40).
- Management requirements have been made more specific for agricultural solid waste such as straw, agricultural film waste, agrochemical packaging waste, livestock manure, slaughter waste and the carcasses of livestock that have died of diseases (Articles 43 to 47).
New types of solid waste
- The government will develop plastic pollution control systems, and promote standardized recycling, utilization and disposal of plastic waste (Article 48).
- For new types of solid waste, including wind power and photovoltaic systems, manufacturers will be urged to develop recycling systems, and responsibilities of government departments will be clarified (Article 49).
- When urban sludge and dredged sediment are disposed of, comprehensive utilization and neutralization treatment will be done in accordance with regulations, and their flows, uses, quantities, etc. will be recorded on manifests (Article 52).
Innovative systems
- Industrial solid waste that meets certain criteria will be co-processed in household waste incineration facilities. The government department in charge will prepare, publish and update a list of industrial solid waste that can be incinerated (Article 22).
- Disposing of industrial solid waste by injecting it underground, using it for ecosystem restoration, using it as road base materials, etc. will be encouraged (Article 24).
- In areas without suitable conditions for centralized disposal of household waste, household waste will be disposed of appropriately according to the conditions of the areas (Article 30).
- As a principle, construction waste generated in rural areas should be disposed of in the same areas (Article 40).
The regulations of the Liaoning province (in Chinese) are available at
https://sthj.ln.gov.cn/sthj/hjgl/gtfwyhxpgl/2024101816542130552/index.shtml
