Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the “New Pollutants Treatment Action Plan (Draft for Comments)”.
Unlike the conventional pollutants, the new pollutants are newly discovered or concerned pollutants with hazardous risks to ecological environment or human health. New pollutants have not yet been incorporated into the management measures or the existing management measures that are not able to effectively prevent and control their risks. Most new pollutants have biological toxicity with environmental persistence and bioaccumulation, and might potentially cause significant risks to environment and human health, even if the concentration is low. The production of toxic and hazardous chemical substances is the main source of new pollutants.
This action was made to effectively strengthen the governance of new pollutants, as well as to protect the environment and human health. By 2025, the regulations and institutional systems for environmental risk management for chemical substances and the environmental risk management for toxic and hazardous chemical substances will be created, and the List of New Pollutants under Key Control will be dynamically released. It is required to complete the screening of hazardous chemical substances with high concern and high output (consumption) in both China and international market, and complete the environmental risk assessment for a number of chemical substances.
It is required to implement the “one product, one policy” and restrict the production, processing, use, import and export of PFOS, related salts and related compounds (PFHxS), HBCD, decabromodiphenyl ether, SCCP, PCP, its salts and esters, HCBD and Dekron. It is required to strictly restrict the application of PFOS, related salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid, related salts and compounds (PFOA), as well as nonylphenol. It is required to regulate the use of antibiotic drugs, and the standard emissions of dioxins shall be basically realized in key industries. By 2035, it is required to build up the complete treatment system for new pollutants. The control capability for environmental risk shall be significantly improved, and the environmental risks caused by new pollutants shall be basically controlled.
Source: Chemical 365