Green transformation gains ground in Jiaojiang

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-01-11

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As a national pharmaceutical manufacturing hub, Taizhou's Jiaojiang district has seen a notable improvement in its environment in recent years.

This is largely due to the concerted efforts that have been made to tackle air, soil and water pollution created during the production process.

In 2020, local authorities invested nearly 100 million yuan ($15.38 million) to manage soil and groundwater and promote sewage treatment in pharmaceutical industrial parks.

Investigations were carried out on 17 decommissioned sites of pharmaceutical industrial parks in the district, and contaminated plots were promptly sealed.

Meanwhile, local enterprises have achieved progress in green transformation, which refers to upgrading outdated forms of production and opting for more environmentally friendly manufacturing solutions.

One such example is Zhejiang Lepu Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. An upgrade of its workshops has resulted in a drop in the volume of waste gas from the original 110,000 m³/h to a maximum of 17,000 m³/h.

It has spent more than 200 million yuan annually since 2014 to upgrade its industrial structure and improve waste treatment capacity.

"Although our prices may be 10 to 20 percent higher than in the market, customers are more willing to work with us as they think we are capable of providing stable products," said Hong Huabin, general manager of the company.

Jiaojiang district has also strengthened law enforcement to safeguard the environment. A total of 1.86 million yuan in fines were issued to six local pharmaceutical and chemical enterprises last year for breaching environmental protection regulations.

In addition, it has also adopted a smart system to monitor waste discharge and deployed drones to monitor water quality.

The local government plans to pump 3 billion yuan to environmental protection infrastructure during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, said Xu Weijun, a local official.