A worker of Beijing Renchuang Technology Co., Ltd. checks a rainwater collection well inside the plant.	A woman demonstrates Beijing Renchuang Technology Co., Ltd’s water-permeable bricks at the 2007 Beijing International High-tech Industry Week.	A large sewage treatment plant and recycling system in Linhuan Coal Separating Plant, Anhui Province.

IN the courtyard of Beijing Renchuang Technology Co., Ltd. the ground is covered with colorful water-permeable bricks — the same bricks that have been used in Olympic venues such as the “Bird’s Nest,” “the Water Cube” and Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Renchuang is located in an eco-industrial park in Miyun County on Beijing’s outskirts. Office supervisor Yang Shihu explains, “Our company holds the patent on the ecological brick both in China and abroad. The permeated rainwater is used as a coolant on production lines, or for landscape irrigation.”

According to Yang, although Beijing lacks regular rain, the water collected via the permeable paving is enough to meet the entire factory’s demand for water used in production. This is made possible not only by the bricks, but also an associated rainwater gathering and recycling system, involving over 200 meters of pipeline and three cisterns capable of holding 700 cubic meters of water. “These recycling measures can save up to 1,800 tons of water a month, and RMB 100,000 in water rates annually,” Yang claims proudly.

As construction in the Miyun Economic Development Zone has intensified, enterprises in the area have successively adopted a multitude of effective measures to save water. For instance, the Yili Group’s Beijing Dairy Plant used to be a water guzzler. In 2007, the plant invested RMB 50,000 in innovative technology to gather condensed water from the workshops. This is then used for washing the toilets and garbage rooms, reducing water charges by RMB 140,000 a year.

There are now three enterprises in the area equipped with rainwater collecting systems, saving some 40,000 tons of water annually. Many corporations have also updated their sprinkler irrigation systems, and the eco-industrial park has updated its cooling systems so that the condensed water is recycled, saving 160,000 tons of water annually.

A Goal of “Zero Discharge”

Miyun Reservoir, 90 kilometers from downtown Beijing, is the city’s main water source. Consequently, the Miyun Economic Development Zone has always given top priority to the reservoir’s environmental safety. Corporations in the eco-industrial park spare no effort in their recycling and control of water.

According to Shi Yuzhu, deputy general manager of the Miyun Economic Development Zone, heavily polluting enterprises are strictly prohibited, and rigorous environmental protection standards exist for corporations inside the zone. Companies have been urged to increase their investment in environmental protection and remain “low energy consuming, low pollutant discharging, and high efficiency” setups.

This year the zone will invest more than RMB 100 million in transforming the pollution discharge system and sewage treatment plant, with the aim of achieving “zero discharge” of pollutants. Once reconstruction of the sewage plant is complete, the processed water will be good enough to provide irrigation for Beijing’s greenbelts.

The diverse energy-saving measures bring economic as well as environmental benefits. By the end of 2007, the 105 enterprises in the zone had achieved a production value of RMB 10.1 billion, an increase of 24 percent over 2006. In 2007 the comprehensive energy consumption of the zone’s industrial undertakings was 34,600 tons of standard coal, and 0.034 tons of standard coal consumed for every RMB 10,000 generated in the zone. This was a 28 percent drop in coal consumption compared to 2006, taking the zone far below the national average for coal use.

A Growing Trend

To further the area’s ecological transformation, the Miyun Economic Development Zone has also heightened access standards for enterprises looking to enter the area. According to Shi Yuzhu, the aim is to create an industrial “ecosystem” that functions like a natural food chain. One corporation’s rubbish or by-products will become another operation’s “nutrients.”

Before 2010, all enterprises in the zone will have to pass ISO14000 environmental management system certification. Besides Miyun Eco-industrial Park, pilot schemes in Beijing Linhe Economic Development Zone and Daxing Biopharmaceutical Industrial Park will also be launched with the aim of achieving zero discharge of pollutants within two to three years. By the year 2010, Beijing will build another one or two eco-industrial parks, and complete ecological renovations in two or three existing economic development zones.

“Beijing’s gross industrial production value has increased 80 percent since 2002, and industrial energy consumption represents half of the city’s total power use. Great efforts have been made to eliminate those industries lagging in environmental standards. The construction of eco-industrial parks and the recycling of resources is the inevitable direction of development,” said Lu Hao, the city’s then deputy mayor.

These developments are not just restricted to the capital. As environmental awareness grows alongside the burgeoning economy, numerous eco-industrial parks have sprung up across China. The Ministry of Environmental Protection had approved 29 such developments by last April.