China's burgeoning economy produces over 10 million tons of hazardous wastes every year, but it has only six disposal complexes. Most of the wastes has been buried or burned untreated by unauthorized small trash businesses.

"China's management of hazardous wastes faces grave challenges," said Pan Yue, vice-director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), in Beijing Thursday at a press conference.

China's annual total hazardous wastes includes 10 million tons of industrial wastes, 650,000 tons of medical wastes and 115,300 tons of radioactive wastes. However, only 24.2 percent of them have been disposed of and one third are stored in makeshifts. From 1996 to 2004, 26.34 million tons of hazardous wastes have been stored untreated.

According to Pan, there are four problems in the hazardous wastes treating industry, including the lack of disposal complexes, outdated technologies, absence of a unified monitoring system and emergency mechanism and no liability-compensation system.

SEPA is to promulgate a regulation on licensing hazardous wastes treatment businesses in July, and Pan Yue believed this regulation will help solve the problem.

The regulation raises standards to enter the hazardous wastes treatment industry and makes two categories of licenses: one permits only collection and another also storage and disposal. Besides, the regulation defines the supervision power of SEPA and the public.

According to a construction plan of SEPA in 2001, which would cost 14.92 billion yuan (about US$1.8 billion), every province and autonomous region must establish a disposal complex for industrial wastes and a storehouse for radioactive wastes. In addition, 300 cities are required to set up collection and disposal centers for medical wastes.

Though only six of them have been finished, Pan said all the projects will start before the end of 2005.

To absorb capital for construction, the once totally government-funded industry has been allowed since 2004 to charge its users, such as heavy industry plants and hospitals, to attract private and foreign investors.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2004)