"Printing and Dyeing Industry Environmental Compliance Guidelines" issued

The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the "Guidelines for Environmental Law for Printing and Dyeing Enterprises" (hereinafter referred to as "Guidelines"). The Guidelines guides and regulates the level of environmental management and pollution prevention and control of printing and dyeing companies for new, improved, and expanded textile printing and dyeing enterprises nationwide, from project construction to day-to-day management.

The "Guidelines" require that the new reconstruction and expansion of printing and dyeing projects must be in line with national industrial planning and industrial policies, in line with the requirements of the local ecological environment planning and land use overall planning. No new printing and dyeing projects shall be established within the designated areas outside the boundaries of scenic spots, nature reserves, drinking water reserves, and major rivers; in areas where water shortages or poor water quality are in principle no new printing and dyeing projects may be established.

In addition, the "Guidelines" also proposed that the new reconstruction and expansion of printing and dyeing projects should adopt advanced technology and use equipment with small pollution intensity, energy conservation and environmental protection, and the main equipment parameters should be realized on-line monitoring and automatic control. It is forbidden to use backward production processes and equipment listed in the “Guidance Catalogue for the Adjustment of Industrial Structures” as restricted and eliminated, and to restrict the use of second-hand pretreatment and dyeing equipment that have been used for more than five years and have not met the requirements for energy conservation and environmental protection. The existing textile printing and dyeing enterprises are required to intensify technological transformation and support the adoption of advanced technological transformation to upgrade the technological level of existing equipment. Enterprises that have backward production processes and equipment must combine the elimination of outdated processes and equipment before they can allow new renovation and expansion.

At the same time, the "Guidelines" encourages textile printing and dyeing enterprises to develop and produce low-consumption, low-pollution products that meet the market's needs and adopt new technologies, new processes, new equipment, and new materials to develop textile printing and dyeing products with independent intellectual property rights and high added value. Textile printing and dyeing enterprises should implement three-level energy use and water metering management, set up specialized agencies or personnel to supervise the energy, water abstraction and sewage discharge, and establish a management assessment system and data statistics system.