China issues preliminary guidelines for record keeping of general industrial solid waste 
On Dec. 31, 2021, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued preliminary guidelines for record keeping of general industrial solid waste by waste generating companies, which became effective immediately. The guidelines have been developed to enforce the provisions for industrial solid waste record keeping set out in Article 36 of the Solid Waste Environmental Pollution Control Law and oversee waste generators’ record keeping.
Scope
The guidelines apply to record keeping of general industrial solid waste by waste generating companies. Indusial hazardous waste is not subject to the guidelines.
Record keeping requirements
Required records
General industrial solid waste records are grouped into required and optional records. Appendices 1 to 3 to the guidelines provide the forms for required records, which must be kept by every industrial solid waste generating company. Records concerning environmental impact assessment, the pollutant discharge permit, a company’s operations and production are documented in the Appendix 1 form annually. The Appendix 2 form is used to keep a record of solid waste generated, stored, utilized or disposed of by a company. The Appendix 3 form is used to keep a record of solid waste transfer on a lot by lot basis.
Optional records
Appendices 4 to 7 are the forms used to keep a record of the storage, utilization, disposal, etc. of solid waste. These records are optional. Provincial-level departments of ecology and environment may define items and scopes for these forms as necessary for the waste management of the local government or companies. Those records can be kept on either a lot by lot basis or a daily basis depending on the solid waste generation frequency.
Waste generators are encouraged to take measures to improve record accuracy, such as installing surveillance cameras at solid waste generation points and using an electronic record book. Companies using an electronic record book are not required to keep paper records.
Solid waste categories
A solid waste category and its code must be provided in a record. Appendix 8 can be used as a reference for this.
Retention requirements
Records must be managed by a specially assigned record keeper. Records of general industrial solid waste must be retained for at least five years.
Obligations of a record keeper
The person in charge of record keeping is responsible for the truthfulness, completeness and compliance with standards of records.
List of the appendices to the guidelines
1. List of general industrial solid waste generated (year: )
2. Summary table of the flow of general industrial solid waste (year and month: )
3. General industrial solid waste transfer record table
4. General industrial solid waste generation record table
5. General industrial solid waste storage record table
6.1 General industrial solid waste internal utilization record table (reception)
6.2 General industrial solid waste internal utilization record table (shipment)
7. General industrial solid waste internal disposal record table
8. General industrial solid waste category table
The full text of the guidelines (in simplified Chinese) is available at
https://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk01/202112/t20211231_965899.html
