Provide a powerful guarantee of the rule of law for the battle against pollution
Interpretation of the newly revised solid waste pollution prevention and control law
□ Our reporter Pu Xiaolei
On April 29, the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress reviewed and adopted the revised Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes (hereinafter referred to as the Solid Waste Law), which will take effect on September 1, 2020.
The prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste is an important part of the battle for pollution prevention and control. It is related to the safety and health of the people. Since the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has coordinated the promotion of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development Emphasize that we must unswervingly fight the battle of pollution prevention and control, and strengthen the guarantee of the rule of law in public health. Chairman Li Zhanshu emphasized that it is a major task of this session of the Standing Committee to implement the Party Central Committee ’s decision-making and deployment on ecological civilization construction and promote the fight against pollution prevention and control; Long-term mechanism.
This comprehensive revision of the solid waste law is a major task to implement the practice of Jinping ’s ecological civilization thinking and the Party Central Committee ’s decision-making and deployment of ecological civilization construction. And important measures to strengthen the guarantee of the rule of law in public health.
The revised solid waste law summarizes the experience of prevention and control of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic. What specific provisions have been made? What provisions are made to promote the classification of domestic garbage, the treatment of excessive packaging and plastic pollution, and the prevention of environmental pollution by construction waste? The heads of the relevant departments of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress made an interpretation.
Improve the centralized disposal capacity of medical waste
The prevention and control of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic has put forward new requirements for the management of solid waste. According to the opinions of the relevant parties, the following provisions are added:
Effectively strengthen the management of medical waste, especially in the process of responding to major infectious diseases. One is to clarify that medical waste is managed in accordance with the National Hazardous Waste List. The local people's government at or above the county level shall strengthen the capacity building for centralized disposal of medical waste. The second is to clarify the supervisory responsibilities. The competent departments of health, ecology and environment of the people's government at or above the county level should strengthen the supervision and management of the collection, storage, transportation and disposal of medical waste within their respective responsibilities to prevent endangering public health and polluting the environment. The third is to highlight the main responsibility. Medical and health institutions shall collect medical wastes generated by their own units in accordance with the law and hand them over to the unit for centralized disposal of medical wastes. Units for centralized disposal of medical waste shall collect, transport and dispose of medical waste in a timely manner. Medical and health institutions and units that centrally dispose of medical waste should take effective measures to prevent the loss, leakage, leakage, and spread of medical waste. The fourth is to improve the emergency guarantee mechanism. When emergencies such as major infectious diseases occur, the people's government at or above the county level shall coordinate and coordinate the collection, storage, transportation, and disposal of medical waste and other hazardous wastes to ensure the required vehicles, sites, disposal facilities, and protective materials. The relevant competent departments shall coordinate and perform the emergency disposal duties according to law. Fifth, people's governments at all levels are required to arrange the necessary funds for emergency disposal of medical wastes and other hazardous wastes arising from emergencies such as epidemic situations of major infectious diseases in accordance with the principle of division of power.
Clarify the basic requirements for laboratory solid waste management. It is stipulated that laboratories at all levels and their establishment units should strengthen the management of solid wastes generated by laboratories, and collect, store, transport, utilize, and dispose of laboratory solid wastes according to law. If laboratory solid waste is hazardous waste, it shall be managed in accordance with hazardous waste.
Strengthen environmental sanitation management such as farmers' markets. It is stipulated that the farmers ’market and the agricultural products wholesale market shall strengthen environmental sanitation management, maintain environmental sanitation and cleanliness, and promptly clean up, sort and collect the garbage generated and dispose of it properly.
The country promotes the domestic waste classification system
General Secretary Xi Jinping attached great importance to the classification of domestic waste, personally arranged the deployment, and made important instructions many times. The decision of the Fourth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Party proposed that the garbage classification system should be generally implemented.
The Solid Waste Law makes the following provisions for the classification of domestic waste:
Make it clear that the country implements the domestic waste classification system. The domestic waste classification adheres to the principles of government promotion, participation of all people, urban-rural coordination, adapting to local conditions, and easy to implement.
Require local governments at or above the county level to speed up the establishment of a household waste management system for classified release, classified collection, classified transportation, and classified treatment, to achieve effective coverage of the domestic waste classification system, and to establish a domestic waste classification work coordination mechanism to strengthen and coordinate domestic waste classification management capabilities Construction.
It is emphasized that governments at all levels and their relevant departments should organize and carry out household waste classification publicity, educate and guide the public to develop household waste classification habits, and supervise and guide domestic waste classification.
It stipulates that units, families and individuals that produce household garbage shall perform the obligation of classified release according to law. All units and individuals shall classify and put in household garbage in designated places according to law, and shall not dump, throw, pile or burn them at will. When local governments establish a charging system for domestic waste disposal, they must follow the principles of producer payment and differentiated management.
It is emphasized that local governments at and above the county level should coordinate the effective transfer of domestic waste public transfer, treatment facilities and collection facilities, and strengthen the integration of the planning, construction and operation of the classification collection and transportation system and the renewable resource recovery system.
Provisions are made for hazardous waste, food waste disposal, household waste classification funding guarantees, and penalties for violations.
Strengthen supervision and management to prevent excessive packaging
In September 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his investigation and investigation in Henan that he must pay attention to environmental protection, prevent excessive packaging, and avoid waste and pollution of the environment. General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution, which was passed at the tenth meeting of the Central Reform Commission in September 2019, and made arrangements for the effective and orderly control of plastic pollution. The Solid Waste Law provides the following provisions for the treatment of excessive packaging and plastic pollution:
On over-packaging governance. First, it is clear that the relevant departments should strengthen the management of product production and circulation processes to avoid excessive packaging. The second is to clarify that the design and manufacture of packaging materials should abide by the national regulations on cleaner production, and require organizations to formulate relevant standards to prevent environmental pollution caused by excessive packaging. The third is to emphasize that producers and operators should abide by mandatory standards that restrict excessive packaging of commodities and avoid excessive packaging. The market supervision and management department and relevant departments should strengthen the supervision and management of excessive packaging. Fourth, enterprises that require the production, sale, and import of packaging materials that are listed in the mandatory recovery catalogue according to law should recycle the packaging materials in accordance with regulations. Fifth, it is stipulated that industries such as e-commerce, express delivery and take-out should give priority to the use of reusable and easily recyclable packaging materials, optimize the packaging of items, reduce the use of packaging materials, and actively recycle packaging materials. Competent departments such as commerce and post should strengthen supervision and management. Sixth, it is clear that the state encourages and guides consumers to use green packaging and reduced packaging.
About the treatment of plastic pollution. One is to clarify that the state prohibits and restricts the production, sale, and use of non-degradable plastic bags and other disposable plastic products in accordance with law. The second is to require the establishment of commodity retail establishments, e-commerce platform companies, express delivery companies, and take-away companies to report to the business, postal and other competent authorities on the use and recycling of disposable plastic products such as plastic bags. The third is to stipulate that the state encourages and guides to reduce the use of disposable plastic products such as plastic bags, and promote the use of alternative products that are recyclable, easy to recycle, and degradable.
In addition, the Solid Waste Law also stipulates that tourism, lodging and other industries shall implement the provision of non-voluntary provision of disposable supplies and failure to comply with mandatory standards that restrict excessive packaging of commodities, and the penalties for prohibiting the use of disposable plastic products.
Strengthen the prevention of environmental pollution caused by construction waste
The large amount of construction waste is generated and the task of consumption is heavy. The solid waste law intensifies the promotion of construction waste pollution prevention and control, and adds the following provisions:
The government is required to strengthen the prevention and control of construction waste pollution, establish a classification treatment system, and formulate construction waste pollution prevention and control work plans including source reduction, classification treatment, consumption facilities and site layout and construction.
Make it clear that the state encourages the use of advanced technologies, processes, equipment and management measures to promote the reduction of construction waste at the source and establish a construction waste recycling system. The government is required to promote the application of construction waste comprehensive utilization products.
The environmental sanitation department shall be responsible for the prevention and control of construction waste pollution, establish a construction waste management system, standardize related actions, promote comprehensive utilization, strengthen construction waste disposal facilities and site construction, ensure disposal safety, and prevent environmental pollution.
The project construction unit is required to prepare a construction waste disposal plan and report it to the record. It is clarified that the construction unit shall not dump, throw or pile up construction waste generated during the construction of the project without authorization.
It stipulates the construction land security for construction waste transfer, centralized disposal and other facilities and the penalties for unauthorized dumping and throwing of construction waste.
Newspaper Beijing, April 29