China Drafting First "Circular Economy" Law

China is drafting its first law on creating a so-called “circular economy” to provide a legal framework for its national sustainable development strategy, the country’s top environmental legislator announced recently. Mao Rubai, chairman of the Environmental and Resources Protection Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said the draft law, designed to improve resource efficiency, will be submitted for review in August and is expected to pass at the end of the year.

The goal of the law is to bring attention to a wide range of environmental considerations as China continues its high-speed economic growth. The law requires low energy consumption and high efficiency, low emissions of pollutants, and minimal waste discharge, using the “3-R” principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle. According to Mao, the draft includes basic management requirements to reduce resources and recycle them where possible.

“Some mandatory systems with details are written into the draft, which provide the law with a high possibility of practice,” Mao said. For example, one article instructs industries to assume responsibility for “taking back” and recycling the packing materials from their products. The draft also demands that different economic sectors, including governments, save water and energy and reuse wastewater, solid waste, and waste heat. It also calls for the recycling of larger waste products such as abandoned vehicles and ships, mechanical and electrical products, and computers and other “e-waste.”

Incentives are included in the draft, such as establishing a special fund for developing the circular economy as well as preferential tax, investment, and government purchasing policies for enterprises and agencies performing circular measures. The draft also stipulates certain penalties for groups that do not.

When drafting the circular economy law, China learned from the experiences of many industrialized countries, especially Germany and Japan, which have rich practice in waste recycling and developing a circular economy and society, Mao said. But China has had to adapt these models to its special conditions, he noted.

Different voices have cast doubts on the draft, however. One environmental expert, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the law was drafted just as a token element of the central government’s sustainable development strategy. “Comparing the draft with the Law on Promoting Clean Production, which took effect in 2003, this is no breakthrough. It is very hard to see the necessity to draft a new law,” the expert noted. “Many articles in the draft are very hard to put into practice in China, like asking producers to collect and recycle packing materials. Furthermore, the draft does not include clear and tough punishment for those who violate the rules of the circular economy.”

Xiaohua Sun is a journalist with China Daily.