After testing 13,785 companies in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, environmental inspectors found that 70 percent failed to meet environmental standards, Xinhua reports. Excessive emissions and subpar (or lack of) pollution control mechanisms were two common culprits.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection recently launched a widespread investigation in Northern China as a matter of addressing the region’s air, water and soil pollution woes. Inspectors spent two months investigating companies across 28 cities in the Jing-Jin-Ji area, China’s future megalopolis.
READ MORE: The Rural Hebei Counties Set to Become the New Shenzhen
Investigators concluded that roughly 4,700 companies were located in prohibited areas, did not have the correct certification and failed to comply with emissions standards. Roughly 2,000 of these offenders were wood-processing plants and furniture production businesses.
Last month, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced that it would launch numerous environmental investigations in the region over the course of year, and send 5,600 inspectors to both Beijing and Tianjin, as well as 26 other cities in Jing-Jin-Ji.
Since the inspections started, some findings have been made public. Results from a study of 467 businesses showed that 75 percent had “environmental problems.” The major factors were lack of proper pollution controls and subpar sewage treatment facilities.
READ MORE: Beijing Pollution Worsens Despite Massive Efforts to Reduce Smog
The capital has been making massive efforts to curb air pollution in the city, including shutting down coal-powered factories, investing billions of dollars into anti-pollution efforts and aiming to bring the average density of PM2.5 down to 60 micrograms in 2017. (The average density of PM2.5 was 73 micrograms per cubic meter in 2016.) Despite all of these efforts, however, PM2.5 levels in Beijing and its surrounding areas increased significantly during the first four months of the year.
[Image via New York Times]
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