Pollution in China

Pollution is one aspect of the broader topic of environmental issues in China. Various forms of pollution have increased as China has industrialized, which has caused widespread environmental and health problems.

Soil contamination

The immense and sustained growth of the People's Republic of China since the 1970s has resulted in increased soil pollution. The State Environmental Protection Administration believes it to be a threat to the environment, food safety and sustainable agriculture. 150 million miles (100,000 km²) of China’s cultivated land have been polluted, with contaminated water being used to irrigate a further 31.5 million miles (21,670 km².) and another 2 million miles (1,300 km²) have been covered or destroyed by solid waste. In total, the area accounts for one-tenth of China’s cultivatable land, and is mostly in economically developed areas. An estimated 12 million tonnes of grain are contaminated by heavy metals every year, causing direct losses of 20 billion yuan (US$2.57 billion).

Waste

As China's waste production increases, insufficient efforts to develop capable recycling systems have been attributed to a lack of environmental awareness. In 2012 the waste generation in China was 300 million tons (229.4 kg/cap/yr).

A ban came into effect on June 1, 2008 that prohibited all supermarkets, department stores and shops throughout China from giving out free plastic bags. Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from adding that price onto the price of products. The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags - those less than 0.025 millimeters (0.00098 in) thick - are also banned. The State Council called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets." This ban, however, does not affect the widespread use of paper shopping bags at clothing stores or the use of plastic bags at restaurants for takeout food. A survey by the International Food Packaging Association found that in the year after the ban was implemented, 10% fewer plastic bags found their way into the garbage.

Electronic waste

In 2011, China produced 2.3 million tons of electronic waste. The annual amount is expected to increase as the Chinese economy grows. In addition to domestic waste production, large amounts of electronic waste are imported from overseas. Legislation banning importation of electronic waste and requiring proper disposal of domestic waste has recently been introduced, but has been criticized as insufficient and susceptible to fraud. There have been local successes, such as in the city of Tianjin where 38,000 tonnes of electronic waste were disposed of properly in 2010, but much electronic waste is still improperly handled.

Industrial pollution

Air pollution caused by industrial plants

In 1997, the World Bank issued a report targeting China's policy towards industrial pollution. The report stated that "hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness [have been] caused by exposure to industrial air pollution. Seriously contaminated by industrial discharges, many of China's waterways are largely unfit for direct human use". However, the report did acknowledge that environmental regulations and industrial reforms had had some effect. It was determined that continued environmental reforms were likely to have a large effect on reducing industrial pollution.

In a 2007 article about China's pollution problem, the New York Times stated that "Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party." The article's main points included:

1. According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, industrial pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death.

2. Every year, ambient air pollution alone killed hundreds of thousands of citizens.

3. 500 million people in China are without safe and clean drinking water.

4. Only 1% of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union, because all of its major cities are constantly covered in a "toxic gray shroud". Before and during the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing was "frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics."

5. Lead poisoning or other types of local pollution continue to kill many Chinese children.

6. A large section of the ocean is without marine life because of massive algal blooms caused by the high nutrients in the water.

7. The pollution has spread internationally: sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo; and according to the Journal of Geophysical Research, the pollution even reaches Los Angeles in the USA.

8. The Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning in 2003 produced an unpublished internal report which estimated that 300,000 people die each year from ambient air pollution, mostly of heart disease and lung cancer.

9. Chinese environmental experts in 2005 issued another report, estimating that annual premature deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution were likely to reach 380,000 in 2010 and 550,000 in 2020.

10. A 2007 World Bank report conducted with China's national environmental agency found that "...outdoor air pollution was already causing 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths a year. Indoor pollution contributed to the deaths of an additional 300,000 people, while 60,000 died from diarrhea, bladder and stomach cancer and other diseases that can be caused by water-borne pollution." World Bank officials said "China’s environmental agency insisted that the health statistics be removed from the published version of the report, citing the possible impact on 'social stability'".

A draft of a 2007 combined World Bank and SEPA report stated that up to 760,000 people died prematurely each year in China because of air and water pollution. High levels of air pollution in China's cities caused to 350,000-400,000 premature deaths. Another 300,000 died because of indoor air of poor quality. There were 60,000 premature deaths each year because of water of poor quality. Chinese officials asked that some of results should not be published in order to avoid social unrest.

China has made some improvements in environmental protection during recent years. According to the World Bank, 'China is one of a few countries in the world that have been rapidly increasing their forest cover. It is managing to reduce air and water pollution.

Vennemo et al. in a 2009 literature review in Review of Environmental Economics and Policy noted the wide discrepancy between the reassuring view in some Chinese official publications and the exclusively negative view in some Western sources. The review stated that "although China is starting from a point of grave pollution, it is setting priorities and making progress that resemble what occurred in industrialized countries during their earlier stages of development." Environmental trends were described as uneven. Quality of surface water in the south of China was improving and particle emissions were stable. But NO₂ emissions were increasing rapidly and SO₂ emissions had been increasing before decreasing in 2007, the last year for which data was available.