Industrial Waste Management in Suxi, Yiwu

    Suxi Town is an industrial town in Yiwu. In recent years, a large number of enterprises from high-tech industries such as the optoelectronics industry were introduced to Suxi.

    Along with the booming industrial economy comes the problem of booming industrial waste. The party committee and government of Suxi are employing a mixed method of management to solve this issue: the enterprises are responsible for the front-end part—waste sorting—and the government is helping to introduce the third parties to collect and dispose of the waste.

    On the morning of July 24, the staff of the General Affairs Department of HC Semitek (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. arranged a transport vehicle to take its industrial waste to the Suxi Comprehensive Recycling and Sorting Center of Renewable Resources. It took only eight minutes one way, and less than one hour for the whole trip, including unloading. Before May of 2019, HC Semitek had to transport its industrial waste to Wuxi, Jiangsu, which takes about four hours one way.

    HC Semitek is located in the Information Optoelectronics High-Tech Zone of Suxi. It is engaged in research, development, production, and sales of high-quality LED epitaxial materials and chips. It has become the largest LED chip manufacturer in China, the world’s second largest LED chip manufacturer, and the fastest growing LED chip enterprise in China.

    “The processing of LED has very strict requirements on the cleanliness of the workshop, which is why each piece of equipment is equipped with air filter elements. As a result, we have a large amount of industrial waste every day, such as filter elements and masks,” said Hu Jianyong, manager of the General Affairs Department of HC Semitek. “Unlike ordinary industrial waste, the filter elements cannot be directly incinerated or landfilled. They need to be carefully disposed of. Therefore, we have to transport these filter elements to a company in Wuxi every two weeks,” said Hu. But the establishment of the recycling and sorting center in Suxi offers a new solution for the company.

    In May of 2019, HC Semitek received the EIA report showing that the filter elements are not hazardous waste. “Then the Suxi Comprehensive Recycling and Sorting Center of Renewable Resources contacted us, saying they could help to dispose of the used filters for free,” said Hu.

    Suxi Comprehensive Recycling and Sorting Center of Renewable Resources is located at the intersection of Chunfeng Road and Longqi Road. It is an environmental comprehensive management project introduced by the Suxi government. “There were dozens of waste collection stations in Suxi before. With the establishment of the recycling and sorting center, the waste industry has become more standardized,” said Chen Guoqiang, deputy secretary of the Suxi Party Committee.

    According to the data, Yiwu generates thousands tons of industrial waste and household waste every day. The industrial waste management system in Suxi will be promoted to more places, with increased recycling and sorting centers. 

(By Fang Jing, translated by Li Ziyi, edited by Kendra Fiddler)