Ministry of Ecology and Environment: Management of new pollutants focus on "screening, evaluation, control" and "ban, reduce, cure"

The new pollutant management is the inevitable result of deepening the battle of pollution prevention and control, said Ren Yong, director of the Department of Solid Waste and Chemicals of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, at a press conference on March 30. "evaluation" of the need to focus on the control of new pollutants, and then the implementation of the whole process of control of key new pollutants.

What is the difficulty in managing new pollutants?

New pollutants are those toxic and harmful chemical substances with characteristics of biotoxicity, environmental persistence, bioaccumulation, etc., which pose greater risks to the ecological environment or human health, but have not yet been incorporated into environmental management or existing management measures are insufficient. There are four major categories of new pollutants of wide international concern: first, persistent organic pollutants, second, endocrine disruptors, third, antibiotics, and fourth, microplastics. These four categories are defined as new pollutants, provided that they are released into the environment.

What is the new pollutant? It can be understood from two aspects: on the one hand is relative to the familiar such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other conventional pollutants. On the other hand, there are many types of new pollutants, and the more important characteristic of "new" is that their types may continue to increase. With the increasing understanding of the environmental and health hazards of chemical substances and the continuous development of environmental monitoring technology, the number of new pollutants that may be identified will continue to increase.

What makes the governance of new pollutants difficult is its five characteristics.

First, the hazards are more serious. The new pollutants may be harmful to organs, nerves, reproductive development, etc. Their production and use are often closely related to human life, and there is a greater risk to the ecological environment and human health.

Second, the risk is relatively hidden. Most of the new pollutants are not obvious short-term harm, but once they are found to be harmful, they may have entered the environment through a variety of ways.

Third, environmental persistence. Most of the new pollutants are environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative, difficult to degrade in the environment and easy to enrich in the ecosystem, and can accumulate in the environment and in living organisms for a long time.

Fourth, the wide range of sources. China is a large country in the production and use of chemical substances, tens of thousands of species in use, and thousands of new chemical substances every year, their production and consumption may have environmental emissions.

Fifth, the complexity of governance. For new pollutants with persistence and bioaccumulation, even if they are released into the environment at low doses, they may endanger the environment, biology and human health, requiring a high degree of governance. In addition, the new pollutants involve a large number of industries, long industrial chains, alternatives and alternative technologies are more difficult to develop, requiring multi-sectoral cross-sectoral collaborative governance, the implementation of the whole life cycle of environmental risk control.

Management of new pollutants focus on "screening, evaluation, control" and "ban, reduce, cure"

In recent years, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with relevant departments, has researched and promoted legislation on environmental risk management of toxic and hazardous chemical substances, revised the Measures for Registration of Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances; continuously carried out registration of environmental management of new chemical substances; promoted environmental risk control of toxic and hazardous chemical substances; and actively participated in global chemical compliance actions, laying a better foundation for the governance of new pollutants.
　　

To carry out new pollutant management is the inevitable result of the battle of pollution prevention and control to deepen, and is an inherent requirement in the process of continuous improvement of ecological and environmental quality.

At present, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in conjunction with the Development and Reform Commission and other 13 departments are studying the development of new pollutant management action plan, put forward the "14th Five-Year" period of China's new pollutant management work overall requirements, major goals, action initiatives and security measures.