Source substitution to promote green development, Qingyuan makes every effort to fight the blue sky defense war

VOCs are major ozone precursors.Source substitution has become an irresistible trend to advance in-depth VOCs governance,reduce ozone pollution and improve ambient air quality.Over the past two years,the Qingyuan Branch of Lishui Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau has actively guided a group of enterprises to carry out source substitution,cut VOCs emissions through source control and continuously helped enterprises upgrade their environmental management capacity and performance.

Take Initiative & Make Thorough Plans

The 14th Five-Year Plan set clear requirements for VOCs governance.Qingyuan’s pillar industries are bamboo-timber processing and pencil manufacturing,most of which are small-scale enterprises facing great obstacles to low-efficiency upgrading.Source control delivers more thorough and effective pollution reduction than end-of-pipe treatment.To address pollution at its root,the Qingyuan Branch took proactive steps and made comprehensive plans.Starting from 2020,the branch took pencil manufacturers as the breakthrough point to pilot source substitution in the pencil industry.It selected three pilot enterprises including Zhejiang Best Intenerated Pencil Wood Co.,Ltd.,Zhejiang Daqian Art Supplies Co.,Ltd.and Zhejiang Aitejia Cultural Supplies Co.,Ltd.to implement source substitution.This year,the branch has further planned source substitution for the bamboo products industry and formulated the Implementation Plan for Source Substitution of Low-VOC Raw and Auxiliary Materials in Qingyuan’s Characteristic Bamboo-Timber and Pencil Industry,which delivers overall planning and detailed arrangements for source substitution of Qingyuan’s two pillar industries.

Targeted Guidance & Heartfelt Support Services

To help enterprises fully grasp national,provincial and municipal VOCs governance policies and motivate them to participate in source substitution voluntarily,the Qingyuan Branch organized multiple seminars and training sessions attended by members of the pencil industry association and bamboo product manufacturers.The sessions offered detailed interpretations of superior policies,while third-party technical specialists gave thorough explanations on coating materials,processes,auxiliary supplies and project packaging for source substitution.In addition,a dedicated service support team was formed to conduct repeated on-site guidance at relevant enterprises,timely learn about their demands and difficulties and actively resolve their problems.Up to now,the branch has guided and supported 10 enterprises to complete source substitution with a total of 8.4519 million yuan in central funds applied.

Source Control & Green Development

Zhejiang Best Intenerated Pencil Wood Co.,Ltd. is a leading enterprise implementing oil-to-water conversion in Qingyuan’s pencil industry.Since 2019,the company has invested heavily in introducing advanced German technology and independently developed water-based eco-friendly paint and matching construction processes suitable for pencil production.With support and guidance from the Qingyuan Branch,the enterprise invested 7.5095 million yuan to launch oil-to-water source substitution in 2020.It renovated 35 paint production lines,replacing 313.5 tons of oil-based paint at the source and cutting annual VOCs emissions by 116 tons.This move substantially reduces pollutant discharge from the source and effectively improves ambient air quality.Meanwhile,the source substitution project drastically cuts the output of hazardous waste such as paint residues and paint buckets,with hazardous waste generation dropping by 72.9% compared with pre-renovation levels and corresponding reductions in hazardous waste disposal costs.At present,Zhejiang Best Intenerated Pencil Wood Co.,Ltd.has fully completed its source substitution renovation project.Surveys show over 90% of factory workers and nearby residents report obvious improvements to factory odor,workshop environment and surrounding air quality.Through source substitution,the enterprise has demonstrated strong social responsibility and built a positive corporate image,greatly boosting its public recognition and residents’ satisfaction with local environmental quality while laying a solid foundation for its long-term green development.

Up to now,a total of 9 bamboo-timber and pencil enterprises in Qingyuan have finished oil-to-water conversion.The local government is also actively promoting centralized green island projects for auto repair spray painting.Qingyuan has spared no effort to win the battle for blue skies.In the first half of 2022,Qingyuan ranked first in Zhejiang Province with a comprehensive ambient air quality index of 2.02.