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2014-December-8

Economic Transformation in Ningxia

President Yu Hengxing, who is also an engineer, said, “We are not simply transferring eastern enterprises with excess production capacity to western regions. A sustainable development standard is imperative for new industrial parks. From the very beginning, enterprises should pay great attention to energy conservation and environmental protection. We have introduced not only advanced spinning machinery, but also dyeing technology, which is often thought to be a source of pollution. Our ecological water circulation facilities can realize zero discharge of pollutants.”

The circular economy is an innovative development model based on constant use and re-use of materials. The main purpose of this model is to pursue the maximum effective usage of resources and energy to fundamentally solve the contradiction between environmental protection and economic development.

Shizuishan Eco-Economy Development Area, located 60 kilometers south of Yinchuan, is rich in resources, including coal, limestone, and carbon products, all of which are unrenewable. Consequently exploitation is both costly and highly detrimental to the environment.

Since energy conservation and environmental protection are the crucial demands of enterprises brought in from eastern regions, they also challenge long-established enterprises to develop sustainably. The biggest question is how to use these local resources in a green way to keep the circular production chain in motion.

Ningxia Dadi Circular Development Co., Inc. has sailed uncharted waters and discovered its own form of circular economy. Although there are clear benefits to setting up a new style of green circular economy, it doesn’t come cheap. The company admits to expanding a lot to achieve its goal, including eliminating four coking furnaces and two pressure-tight ore smelting furnaces in 2010, which meant forfeiting over RMB 10 million annually. However, the sacrifice was well worth it. By the end of 2010, the company’s comprehensive energy consumption per RMB 10,000 of GDP dropped 62 percent compared to that of 2005, and the industrial water recycling rate reached 76 percent.

Nowadays, the company has successfully established a circular economy system, recycling industrial refuse and emissions to build a zero-discharge and pollution-free industrial park.

“Exhaust gas is the raw material of chemical fertilizer, waste produced in the processing of calcium carbide can be converted into cement, and sewage, after purification treatment, can be recycled. Waste becomes wealth,” Deputy General Manager Yang Lixian explained.

Yang told China Today that converting nearly one million tons of waste annually into assets could save the company almost RMB one million in charges for disposing of pollutants. He gave an example of the cement producing program. Using solid waste in the process of powdering, incinerating and re-powdering to produce cement yields a high added value, which at the same time saves RMB one million on pollutant discharge.

Since the company’s establishment in 2002, its total assets have climbed to RMB seven billion. It is listed among China’s Top 500 Chemical Enterprises. Its circular economy has also turned it into a resource-conserving, environmentally friendly enterprise. By the end of the 12th Five-year Plan, its total industrial output value is expected to surpass RMB 20 billion.

Traveling along the ancient Silk Road in Ningxia, amidst the harmony of the grand desert and green oases, you seem to hear the camel bells and see the caravans of businessmen from a thousand years ago. Today’s Ningxia has the same spirit, but paints a different picture. Policy guidance and technological innovation are gradually transforming the region’s economy into a sustainable model that is sure to embrace the Chinese dream of rejuvenation.

 

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