Solid Waste Management in China: the Case of Zhejiang Province
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Faculty of Arts Department of Chinese Studies Master’s thesis 2019 Bc. Terézia Hegerová Faculty of Arts Department of Chinese Studies Solid waste management in China: The case of Zhejiang province Master’s thesis Bc. Terézia Hegerová Supervisor: Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D. 2019 I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and it contains no other materials written or published by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. Brno, 14thof August, 2019 ………………………….. The thesis was completed within the cooperation framework between the Department of Chinese Studies (Masaryk University) and the Institute of China Studies (Zhejiang University). During my two-semester stay in China, the thesis was supervised by Prof. Gao Fangfang 高芳芳, Associate Professor in the College of Media and International Culture at Zhejiang University, China. ABSTRACT Nowadays, the harmonious coexistence between man and nature is the center of the attention of many discussions ongoing all over the world. Degradation of nature became one of the most pressing issues the human race has to face. The handling of environmental problems is the task not only of governments and scientists, but also of many volunteers, non- governmental organizations, and individuals. In China, Chinese central and local governments, NGOs, and common public cooperate side by side to save the environment. Each of them has different approaches and, especially, agenda. It is interesting to observe how they cooperate and interlink with the official discourse of environmental pollution in China. Do their agendas differ or do they complement each other? The most significant environmental issues in China are air and water pollution. Solid waste pollution might not be so widely discussed in China; nonetheless, it also deserves attention, since it is a global problem which is continually growing. It is getting more and more evident that solving of this environmental issue deserves at least as much attention as air pollution and others. The main focus of this thesis is the solid waste management in China. Through looking at the solid waste pollution problem in China I am analyzing the difference between the approaches of the Chinese government and official policies compared with approaches of environmental non-governmental organizations when it comes to environmental protection. Since China is one of the largest countries by area in the world, it is challenging to analyse the situation of the whole Chinese territory in general. For this reason I am using as a case study only one part of China, namely Zhejiang province, and environmental non-governmental organization Green Zhejiang, which is operating in this province. Key words: solid waste management; hazardous waste; industrial waste; municipal solid waste; environmental protection; environmental problems; ENGO; Green Zhejiang; Zhejiang province; China; Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D. for being patient and for his support not only while writing both my bachelor’s and master’s thesis but also during my whole studies at Masaryk University. I would also like to thank my family for encouraging me, and my classmates for discussing with me the correct forms of citations. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 10 2 ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY ................................................................................. 13 List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ 13 Terminology ......................................................................................................................................... 13 3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................. 15 4 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 15 5 ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE IN CHINA ............................................................................ 17 The environmental situation in China ............................................................................................... 17 Environmental protection policies in China ..................................................................................... 19 A, Environmental protection policy law of China ............................................................................ 20 B, Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People´s Republic of China .................................... 23 C, Ecological civilization ..................................................................................................................... 24 D, Circular economy ........................................................................................................................... 27 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 30 6 ENGOs IN CHINA ........................................................................................................................... 32 NGOs in China..................................................................................................................................... 32 A, Evolution of NGOs in China .......................................................................................................... 32 B, NGO Laws ....................................................................................................................................... 34 B1, The Charity Law of the People´s Republic of China ................................................................. 34 B2, The Foreign NGOs Law ............................................................................................................... 36 ENGOs in China .................................................................................................................................. 36 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 40 7 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN CHINA ............................................................................. 41 Solid waste management laws ............................................................................................................ 41 A, Law of the People´s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste ..................................................................................................................... 41 B, General Office of the State Council's declaration on limiting the production, sale, and use of plastic shopping bags for retail purposes .......................................................................................... 43 C, Ban on import of foreign waste ..................................................................................................... 44 Solid waste management in China in brief ........................................................................................ 45 8 ZHEJIANG PROVINCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ...................................... 47 Zhejiang province ................................................................................................................................ 48 Zhejiang province environmental policies ........................................................................................ 48 A, Zhejiang and ecological civilization .............................................................................................. 49 Beautiful Zhejiang ............................................................................................................................... 49 B, Zhejiang and circular economy ..................................................................................................... 52 911 Action Plan .................................................................................................................................... 52 C, 811 .................................................................................................................................................... 53 D, Inspections ....................................................................................................................................... 54 E, Following of laws ............................................................................................................................. 56 Interim Provisions on the Online Publicity of Environmental Protection Administrative Punishment Results in Zhejiang Province ........................................................................................ 56 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 57 9 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ZHEJIANG PROVINCE ............................................... 57 A, Solid waste management and ecological civilization ................................................................... 58 B, Solid waste management and Beautiful Zhejiang ........................................................................ 59 C, Zero Waste Action Plan ...............................................................................................................