Investigation on the smuggling of Foshan ceramic waste slag by one hand

As the largest ceramic production base in China, Foshan has made great efforts to deal with the disposal of ceramic waste slurry. However, for many years, some abandoned mountain ponds, reservoirs and mountain pits have been repeatedly stolen and dumped with ceramic waste slurry. The reporter found that the smuggling of Foshan ceramic waste slag has formed a vicious situation of “paying for one hand and draining one hand”. On the one hand, the villagers collect money for receiving small profits, while the environmental protection department “grabs once and punishes once”. Paying money" supervision.

Blatant stealing

As night falls, the Foshan section of the 321 National Road and the Nanzhuang Avenue of Chancheng District are still full of traffic and dust, and some mud-spotted tankers that have been whizzing from time to time are attracting attention. Unlike ordinary tank trucks, the end of the tank is not a gas valve, but a large square hole is cut out and an iron plate is used as a switch. The local villagers identified that these vehicles are used to transport ceramic waste slurry.

At a dumping point in Fengguo Village, Baiji Town, Sanshui District, the local villagers pointed out that a tanker that had just entered the tank told reporters that since 2010, it has been contracted for more than 300,000 yuan per year. The ceramic waste was dumped and the lease was until 2049. In the Shizhong Baiteng Stone Field in Nanhai District, the figure of this tank car appeared frequently during the day and night. The reporter only stayed at the scene for half an hour and saw four tank cars coming in and out.

The reporter found that these tank trucks were dumped from the ceramics factory in Nanzhuang and other places to the field and dumped directly. The reporter came to a factory called “Junyi Ceramics” on the grounds of looking for work. A large amount of white mud was stored in six pools of 50 to 60 square meters. The workers responsible for loading the mud told reporters that these are “contracted to the outside car every day to pull”, “when there are more than five or six cars a day, there are also two or three cars.”

What is even more surprising is that the reporter found two tank cars that had been inhabited by the Shizhong Baiteng Stone Field in Nanhai District, at the Xiaoxiwan Solid Waste Treatment Center in the Chancheng District, a ceramic waste slurry treatment center determined by the local government. Liao Wujian, the general manager of the center, admitted that “there is indeed a small portion of the waste slurry that has not been disposed of and directly dumped”, saying that the dumping behavior has been approved by the local villagers’ meeting and a lease agreement has been signed. However, the reporter’s “Application for the Filling and Re-Greening Project of Baiteng Stone Field” by the Lions’ Village Committee showed that “the treated ceramic waste residue” was allowed to be landfilled.

Can't ban, can't end the smuggling?

Foshan ceramic waste slurry smuggling phenomenon, at least in 2007, it was reported. The environmental protection departments of Chancheng District and Nanhai District said that in 2010 and 2011, they had separately investigated the "Small West Bay" smuggling behavior and "had fines." Pan Yongkun, deputy director of the law enforcement branch directly under the Sanshui District Environmental Transport Bureau, also said that in July last year, he had filed a case against Fengguo Village, and "pushed two or three thousand."

Compared with the income, the illegal cost is so low, the "cat catch mouse" game has been staged over the years, and the punishment order is similar to "a piece of paper". On November 13 this year, the Foshan Environmental Protection Bureau also ordered Liao Wujian. "No ceramic wastes can be transported for landfill before the measures to prevent environmental pollution are done."

Why have you not taken more stringent measures? The environmental protection departments of Nanhai District and Chancheng District all claim that this is a cross-regional behavior, and only the other party has the ability to punish. In addition, a person in charge of the local environmental protection department also complained to the reporters, lacking manpower, and it is difficult to conduct daily investigations on the smuggling behavior, “mainly relying on villagers’ complaints”. The reporter learned that most of the dumping villagers did not object to renting land for profit. The Bai Tengshi site in the village chief Deng Guangliang said: "The rental of the quarry can have more than 2.6 million yuan per year, and 99% of the villagers agree."

Stealing the hidden dangers

However, the smuggling of ceramic waste slurry has caused a lot of pollution hazards to the local area. Some environmental experts pointed out that ceramic waste slurry residue not only encroaches on a large number of Sangji fish ponds, but also contains a large amount of industrial additives, which is easy to cause serious pollution to water and soil. The reporter saw at the dumping point of Fengguo Village that more than 20 cm of white silt was not found on the grass.

Liao Wujian provided the reporter with a test report issued by the “China Guangzhou Analytical Testing Center”. Although all the indicators were qualified, the reporter found that the test sample name was “treated ceramic pulp residue”, which was not directly dumped. .

Wu Jianqing, a professor at South China University of Technology who has long studied ceramic environmental protection technology, told reporters that from the perspective of ceramic raw materials, groundwater pollution is generally “not particularly large”, but its density is high, “may increase the hardness of water to some extent”.

Wu Jianqing said that there are differences in various industrial additives, and the degree of pollution of ceramic wastes is based on the authoritative test results of the environmental protection department. The responsible persons of environmental protection departments in Chancheng District, Nanhai District and Sanshui District have all replied that they have not done relevant tests so far. Chen Shaoping, deputy director of the Shishan Branch of the South China Sea Environment and Transportation Bureau said: "Before the test, we can't say that it is harmful, but it should contain heavy metals, and certainly cannot meet the normal discharge standards."

Relevant experts believe that the state has always strict regulations on the treatment of industrial solid waste. Regulatory negligence and low illegal cost are the real soils produced by smuggling. Wu Jianqing said that technically, ceramic waste can be completely recycled in environmental protection. As long as the relevant departments increase supervision and properly guide the preferential policies, they will not become environmental problems at all.