Mori Fund Report(Academic Year 2015)
Current Industrial Wastewater
Policy in China and its Future Improvement Potential
-Case study at Paojiang industry park of Shaoxing
Keio University
Graduate School of Media and Governance
Li Dan
Since
the 1970s, China began implementing environmental related policies to address
the increasing signs of environmental damage and pollution. However, the industry participation and
operation efficiency were often not satisfactory.
From the clothes on our backs to the curtains in our homes, thousands of everyday items we rely on are produced by the world¡¯s textile industry. With the textiles industry now centered in countries with developing environmental regulatory systems, such as China, Bangladesh, India, and Vietnam, these countries are often under the risk of heavy environmental damages without strict policies. Dyeing and finishing one ton of fabric can result in the pollution of up to 200 tons of water with a suite of harmful chemicals, in addition, the consumption for fuel and electricity are also very high. By value of goods produced, in 2012 China was ranked number 1 in the world for textile and fabric export, with market value of $288billion USD, making China one of the most affected countries from the pollutions of the textiles industry.
The aim of this study is to examine the
effect of China¡¯s pilot cap-and-trade program in Shaoxing. The study is followed by an exploratory analysis using the wastewater trade data, cost
of treatment, and cost of recycling data from Shaoxing to identify
plausible explanations for the current market response
by marginal cost and benefit model.
Here is the map of my research area named Shaoxing, paojiang industry park.
This study used both qualitative and
quantitative approach. The
qualitative approach was used to obtain a snapshot of feedbacks from the
stakeholders of the policy, the qualitative approach consisted of questionnaires
and interviews; this approach was used to gather the responses from government
officials, factory managers, and local residents. On the other hand, the quantitative
approach was used to analyze the data of companies in the region to obtain a
snapshot on the energy consumption, water consumption, and GDP contributions
for these factories. The data were
obtained from both local government and official documents.
The relevant data and studies on the cap-and-trade program in Shaoxing are very limited at the current stage as the program first proposed in 2011. In addition, the market trend and policy details of Shaoxing were not deeply investigated, thus the result of this study can only be considered as a preliminary reference. The economic market model was able to provide a potential explanation; it is not a conclusive result due to the limited market activity. Further study will be required to confirm the model¡¯s fit and data needed to support this claim.
The figure below shows the overall
methodology process flow.
Data requirement for this
research are:
1)
Current industry situation of Dyeing and Finishing industry and its
impact to environment: Preliminary analysis of the environment current
situation of Dyeing and Finishing Industry in China by documentary data by
reading the official document and news.
2)
Research Site Condition: Observed by survey in the region
during fieldwork
First
time: August 16th of 2014 - September 1th of 2015
Second time: October 3rd of 2015 - October 14th of 2015
3)
Research object (38 factories) related data: All the data (Electricity
consumption: Water consumption; Water recycle volume; Industry production capacity,
etc.) were obtained from local government of Paojiang industry
park.
4)
Detail information of Dyeing and Finishing production related data: It
was collected from the interview with one factory¡¯s superintendence
of 38 factories.
5)
Wastewater treatment cost: Information was collected from Shaoxing
Wastewater Management Company
6)
Current environmental policy implement information of Shaoxing were obtained by the interview with superintendence of Shaoxing Environmental Supervision
Association
7)
Current environmental policy implement information of Paojiang was obtained by the interview with superintendence of Paojiang
Environmental Management Office
8)
Current cost and problem of deep industry wastewater treatment data was collected
from the interview with superintendence of Shaoxing Full Wastewater Treatment
Company
9)
Attitude to current living environment and attitude toward local
industrial policy: These quantitative approaches had been collected by performing interviews with questionnaire
with the local resident people.
Figure 1. Images from Shaoxing
during fieldwork
Findings and Discussion :
Through data collected from the fieldwork questionnaire and government agency, as well as interview results with factory representative and wastewater treatment plant, the following discussion points were identified.
Also, only considering the cap and reduction of COD will not include the power consumption and material cost consideration that if the policy overlooks other consumptions such as electricity, the marginal abatement cost can be unexpectedly too high for companies to survive the reduction quota.
Further actions in technology investment support or incentives in recycling water could be considered by the government to further promote and sustain the cap-and-trade program. The transparency of the trading platform and information availability for future policy direction can be strengthened to increase the trust of program participants. Lastly, the next phase should also be carefully studied with regards to market trends, treatment prices, energy use, and actual effluent reduction data prior to the design and execution of the new cap level.