Page 9 of 9 FirstFirst ... 789
Results 121 to 130 of 130

Thread: China's Pollution problem

  1. #121
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Henan

    Major bummer. Henan is where Shaolin Temple is.

    Air quality worsens in China's Henan province, improves elsewhere
    Reuters 18h


    FILE PHOTO - A view of sunset is seen in smog in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China January 2, 2017. Picture taken January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
    A view of sunset is seen in smog in Zhengzhou Thomson Reuters

    SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Air pollution in China's heavy-industrial province of Henan worsened in December even as other regions improved, official data showed, with its cities hit by unfavorable weather and a struggle to find cleaner sources of economic growth.
    For a second year, China is restricting industrial output, traffic and coal consumption in the smog-prone north in a bid to cut pollution during the winter heating period, when thousands of mainly coal-burning boilers are switched on.

    But nine cities in Henan, home to around 95 million people, still recorded a rise in small, lung-damaging emissions known as PM2.5 to an average of 82 micrograms per cubic meter in the last month of 2018, up 12 percent from a year earlier.

    Emissions in the cities - which include several big steel, aluminum and coal producing districts - had already soared by 107 percent from a year earlier in November, according to a Reuters analysis of official data.

    As many as 79 cities throughout the north and east have drawn up plans to control smog this winter, with many committed to cutting PM2.5 emissions by 3 percent from last year.

    Among the 79, average PM2.5 levels reached 66 micrograms per cubic meter in December, down 18 percent from a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations. This was still nearly double China's national standard of 35 micrograms.

    But the local increases in Henan and elsewhere show how much cities are at the mercy of the weather when it comes to meeting air quality targets, with conditions such as high humidity and low wind exacerbating smog.

    "My analysis indicates that (the increases in Henan) are accounted for by the weather," said Lauri Myllyvirta, energy analyst with Greenpeace, who has been tracking the Chinese data.

    Henan's smog concentrations have worsened since the end of last year, with the local government saying on Saturday that 12 provincial cities have issued "red alerts" for the coming week.

    Some 28 cities in the major pollution control zone around China's capital Beijing are also struggling to meet winter air quality targets, with average PM2.5 in the last two months of 2018 up 17 percent compared with a year earlier.

    (Reporting by David Stanway; editing by Richard Pullin)
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  2. #122
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947
    A city in China is feeding a billion cockroaches 50 tons of kitchen scraps a day in an effort to help with urban waste
    Thomas Suen, Ryan Woo, Reuters Dec. 11, 2018, 10:40 AM


    A staff member shows cockroaches in shelves to the camera at a farm operated by pharmaceutical company Gooddoctor. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    JINAN, China (Reuters) - In the near pitch-dark, you can hear them before you see them - millions of cockroaches scuttling and fluttering across stacks of wooden boards as they devour food scraps by the ton in a novel form of urban waste disposal.

    The air is warm and humid - just as cockroaches like it - to ensure the colonies keep their health and voracious appetites.

    Expanding Chinese cities are generating more food waste than they can accommodate in landfills, and cockroaches could be a way to get rid of hills of food scraps, providing nutritious food for livestock when the bugs eventually die and, some say, cures for stomach illness and beauty treatments.

    On the outskirts of Jinan, capital of eastern Shandong province, a billion cockroaches are being fed with 50 tons of kitchen waste a day - the equivalent in weight to seven adult elephants.

    The waste arrives before daybreak at the plant run by Shandong Qiaobin Agricultural Technology Co, where it is fed through pipes to cockroaches in their cells.

    Shandong Qiaobin plans to set up three more such plants next year, aiming to process a third of the kitchen waste produced by Jinan, home to about seven million people.

    A nationwide ban on using food waste as pig feed due to African swine fever outbreaks is also spurring the growth of the cockroach industry.

    "Cockroaches are a bio-technological pathway for the converting and processing of kitchen waste," said Liu Yusheng, president of Shandong Insect Industry Association.

    Cockroaches are also a good source of protein for pigs and other livestock. "It's like turning trash into resources," said Shandong Qiaobin chairwoman Li Hongyi.

    In a remote village in Sichuan, Li Bingcai, 47, has similar ideas.

    Li, formerly a mobile phone vendor, has invested a million yuan ($146,300) in cockroaches, which he sells to pig farms and fisheries as feed and to drug companies as medicinal ingredients.

    His farm now has 3.4 million cockroaches.

    "People think it's strange that I do this kind of business," Li said. "It has great economic value, and my goal is to lead other villagers to prosperity if they follow my lead."

    His village has two farms. Li's goal is to create 20.

    Elsewhere in Sichuan, a company called Gooddoctor is rearing six billion cockroaches.

    "The essence of cockroach is good for curing oral and peptic ulcers, skin wounds and even stomach cancer," said Wen Jianguo, manager of Gooddoctor's cockroach facility.

    Researchers are also looking into using cockroach extract in beauty masks, diet pills and even hair-loss treatments.

    At Gooddoctor, when cockroaches reach the end of their lifespan of about six months, they are blasted by steam, washed and dried, before being sent to a huge nutrient extraction tank.

    Asked about the chance of the cockroaches escaping, Wen said that would be worthy of a disaster movie but that he has taken precautions.

    "We have a moat filled with water and fish," he said. "If the cockroaches escape, they will fall into the moat and the fish will eat them all."

    (Reporting by Thomas Suen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Nick Macfie)

    On the outskirts of Jinan, capital of eastern Shandong province, a billion cockroaches are being fed with 50 tons of kitchen waste a day - the equivalent in weight to seven adult elephants.

    Kitchen waste to feed cockroaches is seen at a waste processing facility of Shandong Qiaobin Agriculture Technology. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    The waste arrives before daybreak at the plant run by Shandong Qiaobin Agricultural Technology Co, where it is fed through pipes to cockroaches in their cells.

    Workers sort kitchen waste to feed cockroaches at a waste processing facility. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    Shandong Qiaobin plans to set up three more such plants next year, aiming to process a third of the kitchen waste produced by Jinan, home to about seven million people. A nationwide ban on using food waste as pig feed due to African swine fever outbreaks is also spurring the growth of the cockroach industry.

    A staff member shows cockroaches in shelves to the camera at a farm operated by pharmaceutical company Gooddoctor. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    "Cockroaches are a bio-technological pathway for the converting and processing of kitchen waste," said Liu Yusheng, president of Shandong Insect Industry Association.

    Cockroaches fed with kitchen waste are seen in a cell at a waste processing facility. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    Cockroaches are also a good source of protein for pigs and other livestock. "It's like turning trash into resources," said Shandong Qiaobin chairwoman Li Hongyi.

    Chen Qianjiang shows a spoonful of powder made of cockroaches. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    In a remote village in Sichuan, Li Bingcai, 47, has similar ideas. Li, formerly a mobile phone vendor, has invested a million yuan ($146,300) in cockroaches, which he sells to pig farms and fisheries as feed and to drug companies as medicinal ingredients. His farm now has 3.4 million cockroaches.

    Li Bingcai shows cockroaches at his farm. Thomas Suen/Reuters
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #123
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Continued from previous post

    "People think it's strange that I do this kind of business," Li said. "It has great economic value, and my goal is to lead other villagers to prosperity if they follow my lead." His village has two farms. Li's goal is to create 20.

    Children of cockroach farm owner Li Bingcai eat fried cockroaches at his farm in a village in Changning county. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    Elsewhere in Sichuan, a company called Gooddoctor is rearing six billion cockroaches.

    Cockroaches are seen among cardboards at a farm operated by pharmaceutical company Gooddoctor. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    "The essence of cockroach is good for curing oral and peptic ulcers, skin wounds and even stomach cancer," said Wen Jianguo, manager of Gooddoctor's cockroach facility. Researchers are also looking into using cockroach extract in beauty masks, diet pills and even hair-loss treatments.

    Bottles of Kangfuxin Ye, a liquid potion made of cockroaches, are seen on the production line at a facility operated by pharmaceutical company Gooddoctor. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    At Gooddoctor, when cockroaches reach the end of their lifespan of about six months, they are blasted by steam, washed and dried, before being sent to a huge nutrient extraction tank.

    A staff member walks among tanks that extract essence from cockroaches at a facility operated by pharmaceutical company Gooddoctor. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    Asked about the chance of the cockroaches escaping, Wen said that would be worthy of a disaster movie but that he has taken precautions.

    Workers walk next to cockroach cells under construction at a waste processing facility. Thomas Suen/Reuters

    "We have a moat filled with water and fish," he said. "If the cockroaches escape, they will fall into the moat and the fish will eat them all."

    Workers work on cockroach cells under construction at a waste processing facility. Thomas Suen/Reuters
    THREADS
    cockroaches
    China's Pollution problem
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  4. #124
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    when coal smoke blocks the sun...

    This is a bit ironic.


    Chinese air pollution dimmed sunlight enough to impact solar panels

    Pollution from coal and biomass burning blocks 13% of solar electricity.
    SCOTT K. JOHNSON - 7/10/2019, 3:45 AM


    Han Jun Zeng / Flickr

    Coal is seen by many as an enemy of renewable energy and the first fossil fuel in line for elimination as things like solar and wind generation have gotten cheaper. But counterattacks from coal can go even further than lobbying against pro-renewable policies, it seems. According to new research, China’s coal-driven air pollution is significantly reducing the output of solar panels by dimming the Sun.

    China is easily number one in terms of new solar construction right now, accounting for over half of the world’s installs in 2017, for example. Between 2010 and 2017, China went from having less than 1 gigawatt of solar capacity to 130 gigawatts, and the country is headed for around 400 gigawatts by 2030. After a run of transformative economic growth powered by coal and other fossil fuels, China is dealing with choking air pollution that is a major driving factor in this solar push.

    Recent research has compiled a record of solar radiation measurements around China going back to the late 1950s. The research shows a declining trend in solar radiation until about 2005, when it leveled off and began to tick back upward. That tracks the increasing particulate air pollution due to coal-burning power plants and manufacturing—as well as biomass burning—that has only recently been addressed.

    A team led by Bart Sweerts at ETH Zürich took that record and fed it into generation models for China’s solar installations to calculate how much generation has been lost—and how much would be gained by cleaning up the air.

    The researchers found that, over the entire record between about 1960 and 2015, the average potential solar generation declined by about 13%. Expressed in terms of capacity factor—the fraction of a solar panel’s maximum output that is actually produced on average—the drop from the start to the lowest point in 2008 was 0.162 to 0.142.

    The impact of air pollution on potential solar output, here shown by capacity factor (the amount of electricity a panel produces compared to its technical max).
    Sweerts et al./Nature Energy

    The change wasn’t the same everywhere, though, as air pollution and local conditions varied. The five worst provinces actually saw potential generation drops of fully 20-28%. These included industrial centers in the east but also some clearer high-elevation areas in the west where a small amount of air pollution can have a big impact.

    If China could go back to its 1950s air quality, its existing solar installations in 2016 would have produced an additional 14 terawatt-hours of electricity for free. As more solar panels are built, that number would only grow. By 2030, cleaner air could net an additional 70 terawatt-hours of electricity each year—about 1% of total projected electricity generation at that point.

    To put some dollar signs on these numbers, the researchers used the current feed-in tariff of $0.14 per kilowatt-hour and a projected drop to $0.09 per kilowatt-hour in 2030. In 2016, this would mean cleaner air would have brought $1.9 billion worth of electricity. In 2030, the extra 13% or so of solar potential could be worth over $6 billion per year.

    For another comparison, solar panel efficiency improvements increased generation by about 10% between 2005 and 2017, helping to make them more cost-competitive. Getting back to 1950s air quality would do more than that in China. As a business proposition, air pollution is holding solar back.

    Of course, the researchers note that this is a drop in the bucket compared to the total health and economic cost of air pollution in China. But it adds another valuable—and perhaps surprising—benefit to eliminating pollution from coal and biomass.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  5. #125
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    India


    Why is India's pollution much worse than China's?

    5 hours ago


    EPA
    Delhi's toxic air is particularly dangerous to children

    As India's north continues to struggle with extreme pollution levels, the story has put a fresh spotlight on air quality in cities across Asia.

    Beijing has long been notorious for its smog - but statistics show that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have worse air by far.

    So why is South Asia so much more polluted?

    Asia's most polluted cities

    Of the world's most polluted 30 cities, 22 are in India, according to research by IQ AirVisual, a Swiss-based group that gathers air-quality data globally, and Greenpeace.

    The remaining eight cities are all in Pakistan, Bangladesh and China - but the list doesn't include Beijing, which comes in at number 122.

    Just looking at global capitals, it's also Asian cities that top the ranking.

    World's most polluted capitals
    Sorted by average yearly PM2.5
    Source: World Air Quality Report

    Looking at overall countries, it's Bangladesh that has the worst air, followed by Pakistan and then India.

    All these rankings are based on average air quality per year.

    As these countries have very different densities of measuring stations and transparency of data, the statistics have to be read with a degree of caution. But they certainly indicate an overall trend.

    World's most polluted countries
    Sorted by estimated average PM2.5
    Source: World Air Quality Report

    Why is India worse off than China?
    Pollution in urban areas is usually a mix of different factors - mostly traffic, fossil fuel burning power plants and heavy industries.

    What differentiates China from India is that in the latter, there is still a lot of burning of agricultural stubble when farmers want to clear their fields. The burning usually takes place in autumn.

    "In this episode, the big problem really seems to have been the agricultural burning," assistant professor Thomas Smith of the London School of Economics told the BBC.

    "That's one thing that China has tackled. All agricultural burning has been banned, full stop."

    A global overview for fires and thermal abnormalities is made available by Nasa, and allows users to track developments over past days and weeks.

    The area north-west of Delhi shows a highly unusual concentration of fires, Prof Smith points out.

    "And you can't underestimate how important agricultural burning is - even though people often think only of cars and heavy industry as the causes."

    In the wake of the pollution spike, India's Supreme Court ordered a stop to stubble burning in the states around Delhi.

    But the city's situation is made worse by the colder winter air which is more stagnant, trapping the pollutants in place.

    Prof Smith also points out that "while India is largely reactive, Beijing tends to be more proactive and preventative to try to stop the problems from happening in the first place".

    What does pollution feel like?

    Pollution levels are categorised by measuring the levels of dangerous particles in the air. The result is then classified on a scale from good to hazardous.

    "The effect of pollution is different for every person," explains Dr Christine Cowie of the University of New South Wales.

    "Some people complain about irritation to the eyes, to the throat, exacerbations of wheeze and asthma symptoms. Coughing is certainly also a very common symptom - even in non-asthmatic people.

    "And of course it's the elderly who suffer, the very young and people with pre-existing respiratory illnesses like or heart problems."




    She explains that even a short exposure to the unhealthy or worse pollution levels can trigger an asthma attack or increase the risk of a stroke. The longer the exposure, the greater the risks.

    And the ways to protect oneself are limited.

    There's the advice to stay indoors, to reduce physical exercise and to wear a mask - but in many poorer parts of the world, none of these options really work for regular people.

    "It is toxic air," says David Taylor, professor of tropical environmental change at the National University of Singapore.

    "It must be very uncomfortable - especially if you're having to work outside and if you're having to do jobs that require quite a lot of energy."


    AFP
    Air quality in Delhi has deteriorated into the "hazardous" category

    "You feel like it's hard to breathe," agrees Prof Smith.

    "It's like doing hardcore exercise when you just take a walk outside. And depending on the kind of pollution, you can of course also smell it in the air."

    How does it compare to Europe or the US?

    Today, pollution levels in Europe, Australia and the US are significantly lower than the extreme readings that India has experienced in the past few days.

    But it's not always been like that. London, for instance, was notorious for its pollution during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

    As late as 1952, the so-called Great Smog covered London with a thick toxic layer of pollution, bringing the city almost to a standstill for days, not unlike the situation in Delhi now. It's thought to have resulted in thousands of deaths.

    While London experienced a different mix of pollutants, "it probably wasn't far off what's currently happening in Delhi," says Mr Taylor.

    Back then, power stations along the Thames were major polluters of the British capital.

    In fact - much of what we know today about the health impact of air pollution dates back to the experiences of the London smog during those years.
    Unfortunately I couldn't copy&paste two key tables. You'll have to follow the link for those.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  6. #126
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Wonder what this smells like...

    A rubbish story: China's mega-dump full 25 years ahead of schedule
    8 hours ago


    GETTY IMAGES
    A worker applying a capping layer to a landfill site in Hangzhou

    China's largest dump is already full - 25 years ahead of schedule.

    The Jiangcungou landfill in Shaanxi Province, which is the size of around 100 football fields, was designed to take 2,500 tonnes of rubbish per day.

    But instead it received 10,000 tonnes of waste per day - the most of any landfill site in China.

    China is one of the world's biggest polluters, and has been struggling for years with the rubbish its 1.4 billion citizens generate.

    How big is the landfill site?

    The Jiangcungou landfill in Xi'an city was built in 1994 and was designed to last until 2044.

    The landfill serves over 8 million citizens. It spans an area of almost 700,000 square metres, with a depth of 150 metres and a storage capacity of more than 34 million cubic metres.

    Until recently, Xi'an was one of the few cities in China that solely relied on landfill to dispose of household waste - leading to capacity being reached early.

    Earlier this month, a new incineration plant was opened, and at least four more are expected to open by 2020. Together, they are expected to be able to process 12,750 tonnes of rubbish per day.

    The move is part of a national plan to reduce the number of landfills, and instead use other waste disposal methods like incineration.

    The landfill site in Xi'an will eventually become an "ecological park".

    Where does China's rubbish end up?

    Waste collected in 2017

    Source: National Bureau of Statistics

    How much waste does China produce?

    In 2017, China collected 215 million tonnes of urban household waste, according to the country's statistical yearbook. That's up from 152 million ten years earlier.

    The country had 654 landfill sites and 286 incineration plants.

    It is not clear what China's recycling rate is, as no figures have been released. China plans to recycle 35% of waste in major cities by the end of 2020, according to one government report.

    This July, sorting and recycling rubbish was made mandatory in Shanghai - leading to "a sense of panic" among some residents.

    In 2015, there was a landslide at a rubbish dump in the southern city of Shenzhen, killing 73 people.

    The dump was designed to hold four million cubic metres worth of rubbish, with a maximum height of 95 metres.

    When it collapsed, it was holding 5.8m cubic metres of material with waste heaps up to 160m high.


    One town in Malaysia was left swamped with foreign waste

    Does China deal with other countries' waste?

    Not anymore. It used to, until the end of 2017 when it decided to ban the import of 24 different grades of rubbish.

    In 2017 alone, China took in seven million tonnes of plastic rubbish from Europe, Japan and the US - and 27 million tonnes of waste paper.

    Other countries, including Malaysia, Turkey, the Philippines and Indonesia, have picked up some of the slack.

    But they struggled to deal with the amount of waste coming in - often times resulting in massive, out-of-control landfills in their own countries.

    Some of these countries have now banned the import of certain types of rubbish and are even sending it back.

    Additional reporting by Ellen Jin
    Couldn't cut&paste the table graphic.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  7. #127
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    improvement!

    Beijing’s air quality shows significant improvements as ‘war on pollution’ targets coal use
    The Chinese capital has seen levels of the most harmful particles known as PM2.5 more than halve since the 2013 drive to tackle the problem started
    While there is still work to be done, controls on coal burning and vehicle emissions are seen as key to rapid turnaround
    Echo Xie in Beijing
    Published: 7:35pm, 5 Jan, 2020


    The drive to tackle pollution has helped clean up Beijing’s atmosphere. Photo: AFP

    Beijing’s air quality has improved significantly since the start of the “war on pollution” seven years ago, according to official figures.
    In 2019, the capital’s average concentration of PM2.5 – the most harmful small particles and a key indicator of air pollution – fell to their lowest levels since its integrated air quality monitoring network started operating in 2013.
    The 2019 average concentration of 42 micrograms per cubic metre was 53 per cent lower than the 2013 figure of 89.5, according to the municipal ecology and environment bureau.
    The average concentration of PM10 particles and nitrogen dioxide were 68 and 37 micrograms per cubic metre, both in line with national targets.


    Curbing coal use has been identified as one of the key policies. Photo: Reuters

    Although some pollution levels still far exceed international recommendations, the Chinese capital’s rapid progress has been hailed by the United Nations as an example of how quickly things can be turned around.
    Joyce Msuya, the deputy executive director of the UN’s environment programme, wrote in a report in March last year that “no other city or region on the planet has achieved such a feat”, which she said was the result of “an enormous investment of time, resources and political will”.
    The UN report, based on pollution data from 1998 to 2017, concluded that the controls on coal-fired boilers, the use of cleaner fuels in residential sectors and better controls on industry were the three most important measures.
    Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based non-governmental organisation, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the improvement was the result of policies such as controls on coal combustion, vehicle emission controls, coordination with surrounding areas and better data transparency.
    China started its “war on pollution” in 2013, with President Xi Jinping identifying it as one of the country’s three biggest challenges in 2017.
    Since the start of the anti-pollution campaign, the Beijing municipal authorities have closed all coal-fired plants and encouraged residents to stop using coal-fired boilers in favour of natural gas and electricity in winter.
    Although that policy faced a challenge in the winter of 2017-18 when gas shortages left residents across many cities in northern China without heating, the amount of coal burned in the capital itself has declined significantly from a peak of about 30 million tonnes in 2005 to 4 million in 2018, according to the environment bureau in Beijing.
    This has also resulted in the concentration of sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere dropping by 85 per cent from 28 microgrammes per cubic metre in 2013 to 4 in 2019.


    Pollution is still a problem in the Chinese capital, and it has yet to meet national targets for PM2.45 levels. Photo: EPA-EFE

    The campaign has also seen pollution levels falling across the country.
    According to central government figures, in 2018, the national average concentration of PM2.5 was 39 micrograms per cubic meter, 9.3 per cent lower than the previous year.
    Across 338 major cities, the air quality was classified as “good” for 79.3 per cent of the time, just short of the 2020 target of 80 per cent good air quality days.
    But despite these successes, there is still a long way to go in tackling the problem.
    Last year the concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing – 42 microgrammes per cubic metre – was still above the national air quality standard of 35, and far exceeded the World Health Organisation’s recommended figure of 10.
    2020 is the final leg of a three-year plan to tackle Xi’s three biggest challenges, and Ma said the next step should be to aim to meet national air quality standards and improve the way industry operates.
    “There’s been a rebound of emissions from energy-intensive companies after last autumn,” he said, adding that the trade war and slowing economy had seen officials loosening controls.
    “So China needs to optimise its energy structure and industry structure to really achieve the green transformation,” he said.
    However, he said the fight against air pollution had made much more progress than efforts to tackle soil and water pollution.
    “The next question is how to set higher standards and improve the quality of the environment in an innovative way,” he said.
    Finally some good news!
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  8. #128
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    banning single-use plastic

    So who's the next biggest user of single-use plastic?

    Single-use plastic: China to ban bags and other items
    1 hour ago


    GETTY IMAGES
    China has for years been struggling to deal with the rubbish its 1.4 billion citizens generate

    China, one of the world's biggest users of plastic, has unveiled a major plan to reduce single-use plastics across the country.

    Non-degradable bags will be banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in all cities and towns by 2022.

    The restaurant industry will also be banned from using single-use straws by the end of 2020.

    China has for years been struggling to deal with the rubbish its 1.4 billion citizens generate.

    The country's largest rubbish dump - the size of around 100 football fields - is already full, 25 years ahead of schedule.

    China's mega-dump already full

    In 2017 alone, China collected 215 million tonnes of urban household waste. But national figures for recycling are not available.

    China produced 60 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2010, followed by the US at 38 million tonnes, according to online publication Our World in Data based at the University of Oxford.

    The research was published in 2018 and said the "relative global picture is similar in projections up to 2025".

    What has changed?The National Development and Reform Commission on Sunday issued the new policy, which will be implemented over the next five years.

    Plastic bags will be banned across all cities and towns in 2022, though markets selling fresh produce will be exempt until 2025.

    The production and sale of plastic bags that are less than 0.025mm thick will also be banned.

    The restaurant industry must reduce the use of single-use plastic items by 30%.

    Hotels have been told that they must not offer free single-use plastic items by 2025.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  9. #129
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    A silver lining - pollution reduced

    Empty Cities and Stalled Industrial Production, New Analysis Shows Coronavirus Has Cut China's Carbon Emissions by 100 Million Metric Tons


    A view of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing's Tiantan Park on Feb. 19, 2020. Artyom Ivanov—TASS/Getty Images

    BY AKSHAT RATHI AND JEREMY HODGES / BLOOMBERG FEBRUARY 19, 2020

    One of the deadliest epidemics in decades has dented energy demand and industrial output in China, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by about 100 million metric tons—close to what Chile emits in a year.

    A new analysis by the climate nonprofit Carbon Brief found that the widespread impact of the virus—including travel restrictions, longer holidays, and lower economic activity—means that neither has recovered from the usual lull around the Chinese New Year, a roughly two-week festival that began this year on January 25.

    The report looked at emissions during the two-week period beginning 10 days after the start of the festival and compared that to the same period for each of the previous five years. Over that period in 2019, China emitted 400 million metric tons of carbon dioxide; this year’s figure is likely closer to 300 million metric tons.

    Coal consumption also has yet to recover from its usual holiday breather. A month before the Lunar New Year, burning of the dirtiest fossil fuel was in line with previous years’ rates. Since then, it’s fallen to a four-year low, according to the analysis.

    China’s economy is grinding to a halt as the government scrambles to stop the spread of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus, fueling fears that efforts to contain the outbreak will have
    Although pictures of empty city centers and public transport might seem like evidence for the large decline in emissions, the fact is that China’s energy consumption is dominated by industry. The reduction in emissions is mostly a result of lower output from oil refineries and lower coal use for power generation and steel-making, as China’s government struggles to control the epidemic. The death toll from the virus on mainland China reached 2,000 on Feb. 18.

    There were 72,436 confirmed cases of people infected with Coronavirus in mainland China as of Feb. 17, according to the National Health Commission with the death toll at 1,868.

    If the short-term reductions last, annual emissions for the country will fall by just 1%. But there’s no guarantee that they will. China has plenty of spare capacity in both power generation and industries to ramp up output once the infection rate starts to come down and protections ease.

    Research from BloombergNEF released Tuesday shows that, despite the erosion in China’s productivity, the country’s emissions could still increase due to an infrastructure-focused stimulus package being prepared by the government, which will require the country to continue burning coal and increase its use of cement and steel.
    THREADS
    covid-19
    China's Pollution Problem
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  10. #130
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    San Jose, USA
    Posts
    18
    I think this is a very urgent problem, since they are leaders in emissions of waste into the atmosphere. Even at the time when there was a pandemic of the corona virus, their cities were cleared of greenhouse gases, they had previously been wearing masks so as not to suffocate. In my area, apart from rubbish removal in birmingham, there are no more companies that could dump waste, and then they recycle garbage themselves.
    Last edited by heavens000; 04-30-2022 at 11:17 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •