China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on October 27 released a list of old production methods and equipment that should be eliminated within a designated period due to solid industrial waste they generate that seriously pollutes the environment. It will come into effect on January 1, 2022.
The use of methods and equipment on the list will be punished with a fine of 100,000 to 1 million yuan (approximately $16,000 to $160,000) under Article 109 of the Solid Waste Environmental Pollution Control Law. Here is an overview of the list.
Elimination period
If production methods and equipment have an elimination deadline set in the list, they must be eliminated by that date (e.g. December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2025). Items without an explicit deadline either have been ordered to be eliminated by a national industrial policy or must be eliminated immediately.
Production methods and equipment subject to elimination
Some of the items on the list subject to elimination are listed below:
Chemical and petrochemical industries
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- Primitive methods of oil production from waste rubber and plastic
- Equipment using mercury or mercury compounds that produces sodium methoxide, potassium methoxide, sodium ethoxide, potassium ethoxide, polyurethane, acetaldehyde, sodium hydroxide or agrochemicals
Steel industry
Methods and equipment using electrolytic manganese passivated with dichromate (elimination deadline: December 31, 2023)
Non-ferrous metals industry
The vertical zinc smelting method and equipment for it (elimination deadline: December 31, 2025)
Machinery industry
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- Barium chloride salt bath furnaces for heat treatment at no more than 1,000 °C
- Phosphate treatment of the threads on joints of drills (elimination deadline: December 31, 2023)
The full list of production methods and equipment subject to elimination is available at
https://www.miit.gov.cn/zwgk/zcwj/wjfb/gg/art/2021/art_5202c6c6032a476c8d7591e895dd30f0.html