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On April 29, 2020, the revised Law of the People’s Republic China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste was approved by the National People Commission Standing Committee, and it entered into effect on September 1st, 2020 (ChemLinked News [1]). Compared with the previous version, the revision has improved the permit system, clarified the extended producer responsibility system, and strengthened the management of hazardous waste.
Speaking at CRAC 2020 [2], Mr. Zhou Yue, the Secretary-General of Special Committee of Hazardous Waste of China Association of Circular Economy, introduced the highlights of the revised Law and the ideas of National Hazardous Waste Inventory revision, especially focused on the trend of the resource utilization of hazardous waste.
Amendments have been made to the law to ensure it covers all fields under the current situation, including strengthening the supervision of medical waste, emphasizing the management of multiple wastes, and restricting the use of disposable plastic products, etc. In addition, Mr. Zhou introduced the following highlights in the revised law:
Clarifies that the first ones responsible for the management of solid waste are the local people's government at all levels in their administrative area;
Reforms the solid waste permit system to expand the application scope;
Requires the hazardous waste generation units to establish hazardous waste management accounts; and,
Requires the units that collect, store, transport, utilize, and dispose hazardous wastes to insure the environmental pollution liability insurance.
The revised law has also imposed new requirements for the implementation of the National Hazardous Waste Inventory, mainly on two aspects:
The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall stipulate the requirements for the management of hazardous waste identification units; and,
The National Hazardous Waste Inventory shall be dynamically adjusted.
On November 27th, 2020, the updated inventory was issued, and the most noticeable change is expanding the exemption list from 16 entries to 32 entries. (ChemLinked News [3]). The expansion of the exemption list can not only reduce the burden of hazardous waste treatment but also promote the development of hazardous waste resource utilization, as Mr. Zhou introduced in his speech. In the next step, the competent authorities will coordinate in accordance with the law to formulate standards for the utilization of various kinds of solid waste resources, which means that China's solid waste management will enter a new stage.
