New pollutants refer to toxic and harmful chemical substances that have been recently discovered or concerned, pose a great risk to the ecological environment or human health, but have not yet been included in the management or the existing management measures are not sufficient to effectively prevent and control their risks. They mainly include persistent organic pollutants, environmental endocrine disruptors, antibiotics and microplastics. How to manage new pollutants?

Widely distributed, many types, difficult to manage

New pollutants mostly have multiple biological toxicities such as organ toxicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, endocrine disrupting effects, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, etc. It is understood that there are more than 20 major categories of new pollutants that are of global concern, and each category includes dozens or hundreds of chemical substances.

According to the experts interviewed, there are tens of thousands of chemical substances in production and use in China, and thousands of new chemical substances are added every year. These chemical substances may flow into environmental media such as water, atmosphere, and sediments during production, processing, use, consumption, and waste disposal, forming pollution. Wang Lei, a professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Nankai University, gave an example that microplastics are currently found in the ocean, inland and even on Mount Everest.

New pollutants can migrate long distances with air and water, and accumulate in organisms for a long time after being enriched in the food chain. Wang Wenfeng, a doctor of pollution ecology at the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, once investigated the microplastic pollution in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. He said that the microplastics in the water environment of the Yangtze River are mainly secondary microplastics, of which plastic fibers account for more than 70% of the total number of microplastics. "Most of these plastic fibers are colored and generally less than 2 mm in size, close to plankton, and easily eaten by other aquatic animals."

Researchers collected samples from the seabed to estimate the amount of microplastic pollution

Luo Yongming, a researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that submicron and micron plastic particles can penetrate the roots of crops such as wheat and lettuce and enter the plants. This means that microplastics and chemical additives such as plasticizers and flame retardants they contain can also enter meat and dairy products through the food chain.

Difficulties in the governance of new pollutants

Weak legislation is a prominent shortcoming in the governance of new pollutants. Developed countries such as the United States and Japan had already promulgated special laws and regulations on the environmental management of chemical substances in the 1960s and 1970s. As a major global producer and consumer of chemicals, China has not yet issued a special law on the environmental management of chemical substances.

There are overlapping functions and multiple management, and a cross-departmental and cross-regional governance mechanism has not yet been formed. Zhang Xiaoling, associate professor at the School of Marine Science and Technology of Zhejiang Ocean University, said that taking antibiotics as an example, from production, research and development, circulation, use to emission and monitoring, multiple departments are involved, and cross-departmental collaborative governance is required. It is urgent to establish a regional watershed cooperation mechanism.

The bottom line is unclear and the foundation for risk assessment is weak. The experts interviewed said that there are tens of thousands of chemical substances in production and use in China, but there is little specific data on their hazards, and there is no legal basis to require companies to carry out hazard identification. In addition, China has not yet systematically carried out environmental surveys, monitoring and environmental assessments of chemical substances, and the overall environmental risk bottom line is unclear.

Insufficient basic research and scientific and technological support capabilities. Experts such as Luo Yi, professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Nankai University, believe that China's research on new pollutants is relatively weak in environmental monitoring, environmental risk assessment and key control technologies. "In 2015, I took microplastics as a research topic, but found that there were very few Chinese literatures available for reference." Wang Wenfeng said.

Improve the new pollutant governance system

Improve the top-level design and accelerate the legislation of environmental management of chemical substances. Liu Yun, a senior engineer at the Environmental Health Center of the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and others suggested accelerating the review of the Environmental Risk Management Regulations for Toxic and Hazardous Chemical Substances to enhance the strategic position of new pollutant governance. At the same time, establish and improve systems such as environmental information surveys on chemical substances, environmental survey monitoring, assessment, control, environmental management registration of new chemical substances, and environmental management of toxic chemical imports and exports.

Establish a cross-departmental governance system for new pollutants at the national level. Experts suggest that a unified coordination mechanism be established at the national level, the division of responsibilities of various departments be clarified, and targeted measures be taken at different stages of pollution control. Establish a cross-regional and cross-basin pollutant coordination governance mechanism, incorporate the supervision of major new pollutants into the supervision responsibilities of basins or regions, and promote coordinated governance.

Strengthen scientific research investment and monitoring system construction. Carry out major scientific and technological special research on key technologies such as environmental screening, source tracing, environmental risk assessment and control of toxic and hazardous chemical substances, and strengthen the environmental management of new pollutants and the construction of technical talent teams. At the same time, regularly carry out new pollutant pollution monitoring actions, improve China's new pollutant monitoring system, strengthen the standardization of monitoring methods and technologies, and lay a solid foundation for the governance of new pollutants.

(Published in "Banyuetan" 2022 Issue 12)

Plastic Industry Video