By Charles McElwee

A draft of China’s “Circular Economy” law was submitted for deliberation in August 2007 to the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature. At that time it was expected to take effect in January 2008. It did not. It apparently remains, however, on this year’s agenda for the Standing Committee (as noted in a report delivered by Wu Bangguo on the work of the Standing Committee to the recently concluded First Session of the 11th NPC).

“Circular Economy” is how China’s definition of sustainability gets translated into English. The draft law establishes the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle (at least at the industrial level) as legal mandates, and imposes requirements that new industrial facilities (a) incorporate energy efficiency and water conservation designs and (b) explore ways to reduce their use of hazardous substances. Although many of the items covered in the Circular Economy law are already required by the Clean Production Law, the law will help solidify the 3R principles as elements of national policy, and will represent the crowning example of China’s move toward a “sustainable,” process-oriented approach to environmental legislation. As to how the law will address China’s child peeing epidemic, see this report in Shanghai Scrap.

I have an English translation of the draft version of the law as it stood last summer, but for various reasons, I can’t post it. If your interested in seeing it, let me know.

Charles McElwee, China Environmental Law