Factory shut down for dumping toxic waste in China's fourth-largest desert
But textiles factory will move operations to a new facility as local officials believe this will stop illegal dumping
A textile dye factory in Ningxia that had been dumping toxic acid waste water in the Tengger Desert has been shut down for good.
Ningxia Mingsheng Dye Chemical Company, located on the edge of the Tengger Desert, was shut down and will be demolished withthis year on the orders of the municipal government of Zhongwei in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
The government also ordered the plant to restore the environment, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The report said sand behind the plant had changed in colour to dark green or brownish red. Red water with a strong acidic smell has also been dumped in the desert.
The report did not specify the chemicals in the waste, but said it contained “a high concentration of acid” mixed with lime to make calcium sulfate.
The factory’s waste water tank, the size of two football pitches, was filled with black and red water, with some material turning solid. The waste leaked into nearby sand, causing huge blocks of red-coloured sand to form, rising from the ground like small mountains.
The news of the shutdown comes a day after authorities announced an investigation into reports of illegal dumping in the Inner Mongolia desert, whose rich groundwater resources could be contaminated by industrial waste.
READ: Factories investigated for 'emptying waste water into Inner Mongolia desert'
The Tengger Desert, spanning 36,700 square kilometres, is the fourth-largest desert in China and is situated close to the more well-known Gobi. The Tengger is home to various lakes, including the popular tourist spot Moon Lake, according to China.org.cn.
An official with the Ningxia factory said the company only discharged processed waste water in the tank and implemented leak-prevention measures.
However, Yu Zhenguo, Zhongwei city’s environmental protection chief, said the company had transferred to Ningxia from Jiangsu province, and had been using outdated processes and environmental protection facilities until 10 years ago.
Villagers living near the factory told Xinhua that the factory had been discharging waste but had gone virtually unpunished.
At the time of the complaints, the city’s environmental protection bureau responded that they believed only relocation would solve the problem, but they did not have the power to shut down or move the factory.
The Zhongwei city government planned to move the factory to an industrial park last October. The new factory was expected to be ready for production next month, and the relocation would proceed as the problems were only found in the old site.
A last year report by environmental activist group Greenpeace said China’s textile industry “uses about 42 per cent of the world’s textile chemicals”, including hazardous, highly toxic or even explosive components in dyes. It listed common substances used in the industry including pthalates (a possible carcinogen), and heavy metals such as mercury, lead and chromium.
Greenpeace noted that the Communist Party’s 12th Five-Year Plan on Environmental Protection had mentioned dyeing and textiles as among the industries to monitor for hazardous waste.
