Pollution in China is one aspect of the broader topic of environmental issues in China. Various forms of pollution have increased following the industrialisation of China, causing widespread environmental and health problems.
Pollution statistics
Soil The immense population growth in the People's Republic of China since the 1980s has resulted in increased soil pollution. The State Environmental Protection Administration believes it to be a threat to the environment, food safety and sustainable agriculture. 38,610 square miles (100,000 km2) of China's cultivated land have been polluted, with contaminated water being used to irrigate further 31.5 million square miles (21,670 km2.), and another 2 million square miles (1,300 km2) have been covered or destroyed by solid waste. The affected area accounts for one-tenth of China's cultivable land. An estimated 6 million tonnes of food grain are contaminated by heavy metals every year, causing direct losses of 29 billion yuan (US$2.57 billion). The presence of heavy metals (including mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, nickel, chromium, and zinc) in the contaminated soil have adverse health effects on human metabolism. Ingestion, contact through the skin, diet through the soil-food chain, respiratory intake, and oral intake can deliver toxic substances to humans.
Waste As China's waste production increases, insufficient efforts to develop capable recycling systems have been attributed to a lack of environmental awareness. In 2012, the waste generation in China was 300 million tons (229.4 kg/cap/yr). A ban came into effect on 15 June 2008 that prohibited all supermarkets, department stores and shops throughout China from giving out free plastic bags, therefore encouraging people to use cloth bags. Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from adding that price onto the price of products. The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags—those less than 0.025 millimeters (0.00098 in) thick—are also banned. The State Council called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets." This ban, however, does not affect the widespread use of paper shopping bags at clothing stores or the use of plastic bags at restaurants for takeout food. A survey by the International Food Packaging Association found that in the year after the ban was implemented, 10 percent fewer plastic bags found their way into the garbage. A particularly significant source of waste is the agricultural sector. In fact, Chinese farms generate more pollution than factories, according to a large survey by the government. Pesticides and fertilizer residues, packaging associated, bags and mulch film are largely left untreated in landfills, often due to a lack of waste management infrastructure.
"White pollution" The term "white pollution" (Chinese: 白色污染; pinyin: báisè wūrǎn, less often "white garbage" Chinese: 白色垃圾; pinyin: báisè lājī) appears local to China and later South Asia, far less used and recognized outside of the region. It refers to the white plastic shopping bags, Styrofoam containers, and other light-colored materials that began turning up in visible volume in agricultural fields, the landscape, and waterways in the mid-to-late 1990s. The first references to the term "white pollution" appeared in official language at least as early as 1999 when the first bans were imposed by the State Council.
Electronic waste
In 2024, China produced 12.1 million tons of electronic waste. The annual amount is expected to increase as the Chinese economy grows. In addition to domestic waste production, large amounts of electronic waste are imported from overseas. Legislation has banned the importation of electronic waste. Requiring proper disposal of domestic waste has recently been introduced but has been criticized as insufficient and susceptible to fraud. There have been local successes, such as in the city of Tianjin, where 38,000 tons of electronic waste were disposed of properly in 2010, though much electronic waste is still improperly handled.
Industrial pollution
In a 1997 report targeting China's policy towards industrial pollution, the World Bank stated that "hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness have been caused by exposure to industrial air pollution". Since the Industrial Revolution, air pollution has been a major source of worry for human growth. Using an original survey in China, a first causal estimate of pollution's impact on political opinions was given. The survey further stated that due to serious contamination of China's waterways by industrial discharges, many are largely unfit for direct human use. However, the report did acknowledge that environmental regulations and industrial reforms have had some effect. It was determined that continued environmental reforms were likely to have a large effect on reducing industrial pollution. In its 2007 article about China's pollution problem, The New York Times stated that "Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party." The article's main points included:
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