Urgency rises for tackling hazardous waste

The deadly blast at a chemical plant in Jiangsu province last month that left 78 dead clearly highlights the urgent need to properly handle hazardous waste management in the country.

As central authorities tighten management by revising laws and issuing detailed policies to support hazardous waste treatment, experts are calling for mandating that facilities to process such waste be built in all chemical industry parks nationwide.

The explosion occurred on March 21 in Xiangshui county, Yancheng, at a Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Co Ltd plant. The accident also injured more than 600.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, set up an investigation group and the probe into the cause of the blast is ongoing.

Multiple sources have suggested that the casual handling of hazardous chemical waste produced by the company could be a cause of the deadly blast.

China Chemical Industry News reported that the blast originated at the company's hazardous waste storage facility, citing a source close to the investigation group.

Beijing News also reported that the facility caught fire before the explosion. The facility is adjacent to a natural gas station, the explosion of which caused the tragedy, the report said.

An assessment report on the factory's environmental protection facilities drafted in July 2018 by the Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Science showed that Tianjiayi has a warehouse with a floor area of more than 1,000 square meters to store industrial waste, which includes tar and methyl alcohol.

The assessment report said the plant generated on average about 11 metric tons of solid waste and waste-water per day, and there has been an accumulation of 4,500 tons of hazardous waste in the factory every year. While some of the waste materials are transported out for disposal, others are processed within the factory.

A special license is required to dispose of hazardous waste in China. According to the Jiangsu's Department of Ecology and Environment, 460 enterprises in the province had the necessary licenses as of the end of 2018, but Tianjiayi was not among them.

Official records also show that Tianjiayi had been punished at least twice for violations in waste management.

It handed over 124 tons of hazardous waste in late 2012 to two local farmers who simply buried it and caused severe environmental degradation, according to a local court verdict reached in January of 2017. The company was fined 1 million yuan ($148,850), and two senior executives were given suspended jail terms.

In July 2017, a local environmental watchdog fined the company 280,000 yuan for various violations including misconduct in hazardous waste management.