In May of this year, the State Council issued the "Implementation Plan for Strengthening the Supervision, Utilization and Disposal Capacity of Hazardous Waste" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), proposing new implementation methods for further promoting ecological civilization, improving environmental quality, and ensuring public health. We know that in recent years, there have been many safety accidents caused by hazardous waste, and enterprises have significantly insufficient resource utilization and disposal capabilities for hazardous waste, which greatly wastes social resources and is not conducive to the green concept of environmental protection. The release of the 'Plan' is precisely to prevent and control risks, enhance the utilization and disposal capacity of hazardous waste, and promote the process of resource utilization.

The most fundamental change in this "Plan" is the change in regulatory thinking, from strict prevention to precise pollution control, from mechanical rigidity to dynamic management, from strict qualification to exemption management, from blacklist to reporting list... This fully reflects the deepening reform spirit of "streamlining management and service".

For the shortcomings of previous regulations on the regulation, utilization and disposal of hazardous waste, such as the fact that hazardous waste remains hazardous waste after disposal, and hazardous waste can only be disposed of harmlessly and cannot replace raw and auxiliary materials, this "Plan" has relatively complete solutions. The spirit of adhering to precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and legal pollution control better meets the requirements of science and practice.

What improvements have been made to some of the shortcomings in the hazardous waste disposal plan?

1. To address the shortcomings of mobile phone treatment facilities for medical waste and hazardous waste, the harmless disposal rate of medical waste in urban built-up areas at or above the county level must reach over 99%. The disposal capacity of hazardous waste in each province (autonomous region, municipality) should basically meet the disposal needs within its administrative region.

2. Improve the regular "point to point" access routes to achieve standardized, orderly, safe and convenient transportation of hazardous waste and medical waste vehicles.

3. Establish regional collection points and storage facilities, support professional collection, transportation, utilization and disposal units of hazardous waste to build regional collection points and storage facilities, and provide paid collection and transportation services for hazardous waste generated by small and micro enterprises, scientific research institutions, schools, etc. Carry out pilot projects for centralized collection and storage of hazardous waste in industrial parks. Encourage the construction of laboratory hazardous waste classification, collection, and pre-treatment demonstration projects in concentrated areas of universities where conditions permit.

4. Revise pollution control standards and specifications for hazardous waste storage, incineration, and identification.

At the same time, in order to facilitate enterprises and optimize the business environment, the Plan also proposes a series of measures:

1. Simplify the approval process for the cross provincial transfer of hazardous waste on the "white list";

2. Centralized collection and transportation of small and micro enterprises, research institutes, and other small amounts of hazardous waste;

3. Exemption qualification requirements for point-to-point hazardous waste directed utilization;

4. Implementing full process supervision of declaration, filing, transfer, utilization, and disposal through information technology;

5. Dynamically revise the "Hazardous Waste List" to establish a hazardous waste elimination management list;

6. Allow third-party hazardous waste identification services (under development).

In addition, regarding the disposal and utilization of hazardous waste, the Plan also proposes some other key points that need to be noted:

1. Conduct special inspections. Strengthen the supervision of environmental pollution caused by hazardous waste in central and provincial ecological and environmental protection inspections. Special inspections can be carried out in accordance with the law for cases of frequent environmental violations of hazardous waste and insufficient disposal capacity in some areas, resulting in environmental pollution or adverse social impacts.

2. Clearly define the first responsible person, including the legal representative and actual controller, as the first responsible person for the prevention and control of hazardous waste pollution and safety production.

3. The disposal capacity of hazardous waste needs to be matched with the overall waste production situation. The Plan requires provincial governments to conduct assessments of the matching of hazardous waste generation and disposal capacity, as well as facility operation, and scientifically formulate and implement plans for the construction of centralized hazardous waste disposal facilities. By the end of 2022, the disposal capacity of hazardous waste in various provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government) will match the overall waste production situation.

4. Hazardous waste management is included in local party and government assessments, which means that the goal of preventing and controlling hazardous waste pollution directly affects the assessment of local party and government leaders and cadres.