Environmental Protection Incentives

    The municipal environmental protection department has enacted various measures to encourage enterprises taking the road of environmental protection. For instance, once an export-oriented enterprise is found to violate an environmental law, its right to export is suspended for one to three years. Its right to export will not be restored until the local industrial administrator receives the notice from the environmental protection bureau saying the enterprise is up to standard.

    Environmentally compliant enterprises are given loans with preferential interest rates, while polluting enterprises are marginalized in their ability to obtain loans for investment in new projects and floating capital; what's more, the interest rates are high. Environmental behavior records also find their way into bank credit ratings: banks are cautious about issuing loans to enterprises that have been punished by the environmental protection bureau. No lending will be approved for serious violators of laws or polluting enterprises that are facing forced shutdowns.

    Shuitou Town is well known nationwide for its leather production. The development of this industry is also guilty of serious pollution. Starting in 2006, the Shuitou leather processing base was ordered to stop production and rectify malpractices. A large number of leather processing enterprises turned to producing low-pollution high-class leather products. They have introduced new technologies to diversify their product lines, promoting structural adjustment and industrial upgrading. Facing the challenges of controlling pollution, Zhejiang Shengxiong Leather Co., Ltd. and Sichuan University jointly developed chrome-free tanning technology to produce oxhide car cushions and sofa leather. This new production line has eliminated more than 75 percent of the main pollutants that old equipment and procedures generated.

    The transformation of Shuitou Town's leather processing industry is successful by any standard. The domestic market share of belt and wallet producers has expanded rapidly and their leather processing industry reborn along the lines of sustainability – finally going the route of environmental protection and brand name reputation."