● The State Council Information Office held a press conference at 10:00 am, June 10, 2017. Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment Zhao Yingmin and officials from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs introduced the Communique on the Second National Survey of Pollution Sources and answered questions from the press.
● According to Zhao Yingmin, vice minister of ecology and environment, the first survey of pollution sources was conducted on Dec. 31, 2007, and this time on Dec. 31, 2017, a gap of 10 years. We may recall that the past decade, especially since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, has seen China vigorously promote ecological progress and rapid improvement in the quality of the ecological environment. The census data also show the changes over the past decade, mainly in three aspects:
● First, the discharge of major pollutants has dropped significantly. Compared with the data from the first national survey of pollution sources, the emissions of sulfur dioxide, chemical oxygen demand and nitrogen oxides in 2017 were down by 72 percent, 46 percent and 34 percent, respectively, from 2007 levels, demonstrating the tremendous progress China has made in pollution prevention and control in recent years.
● Second, remarkable results have been achieved in industrial restructuring. First, the concentration of production capacity in key industries has increased. Compared with 2007, the national paper, steel, cement and other industries of product output increased by 61%, 50% and 71%, the number of enterprises decreased by 24%, 50% and 37%, the output increased, the number of enterprises decreased, the average output of a single enterprise increased by 113%, 202%, 170%. 2) The discharge of major pollutants in key industries has dropped significantly. Compared with 2007, the same industries, paper industry chemical oxygen demand decreased by 84 percent, steel industry sulfur dioxide decreased by 54 percent, cement industry nitrogen oxide decreased by 23 percent. It can be seen that the quality of economic development has been improved in the past decade. The number of enterprises has decreased, but the concentration of production capacity has increased. While the output of products has increased, the discharge of pollutants, that is, the amount of pollution discharged per unit product, has decreased significantly.
● Third, the capacity to control pollution has been significantly improved. The number of facilities for wastewater treatment, desulfurization and dust removal in industrial enterprises is 2.4 times, 3.3 times and 5 times that of 2007, respectively, which is several times the number of pollution treatment facilities ten years ago. The disposal capacity of manure in livestock and poultry farming has been generally improved, with 85 percent of manure and 78 percent of urine being reused in large-scale livestock and poultry farms, and the proportion of dry manure removal in large-scale pig farms increased from 55 percent in 2007 to 87 percent in 2017. Compared with ten years ago, the number of urban sewage treatment plants increased 5.4 times, the treatment capacity increased 1.7 times, the actual sewage treatment capacity increased 2.1 times, and the removal rate of chemical oxygen demand in urban domestic sewage increased from 28 percent in 2007 to 67 percent in 2017. The number of household waste disposal plants has increased by 86 percent over the past decade, among which the number of waste incineration plants has increased by 303 percent, and the incineration capacity has increased by 577 percent, with the proportion of incineration capacity rising from 8 percent ten years ago to 27 percent. The number of disposal plants for centralized use of hazardous waste increased by 8.22 times, and the designed disposal capacity increased by 42.79 million tons per year, 10.4 times that of the previous census. Centralized disposal utilization increased by 14.67 million tons, 12.5 times higher than 10 years ago. By comparing with the results of a pollution survey, we can see the achievements our country has made in ecological environment in the past ten years.
● — Excerpt from China Carton Network
Post time: Mar-01-2023