China's Environmental Ministry Visits to Learn About Dangerous Waste Tracking

China and Ecology got a little closer recently when a delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (the “EPA” equivalent for China) came to learn about how we track dangerous waste in Washington.

We hosted a two-day exchange in August with China’s hazardous waste management leaders and a top information technology professional. The delegates visited Ecology’s Northwest Regional Office to meet with Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction (HWTR) staff and learn about the TurboWaste system.

TurboWaste is Ecology’s online reporting system and database for businesses that generate larger amounts of dangerous waste. About 4,000 businesses have used the system for their Dangerous Waste Annual Reports. China is looking to build a similar system and came to learn more about Washington’s approach to tracking and managing dangerous waste.

The delegation was particularly interested in how the HWTR program works with our federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) counterparts. The Chinese expect to track over 200,000 businesses spread across 31 provinces. Currently, they track hazardous waste information on paper only. Their interest in TurboWaste reminds us that we’re an international leader in the efficient collection and management of dangerous waste related data.

The delegates also made a field trip to Philip Environmental Services Corporation, a dangerous waste treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facility in Kent. The Chinese wanted to hear directly from a regulated business that uses TurboWaste. The delegates were interested to hear that Ecology included Philip’s business needs in the development of TurboWaste.

The delegation’s leader, Mr. Li Xinmin, Director General for the Department of Pollution Prevention and Control, is China’s national leader for addressing hazardous waste. He was particularly interested in the agreement between the EPA and Ecology, where Ecology has to approve EPA doing certain regulatory tasks. Mr. Li explained that was different from the hierarchical structure in China. The delegates seemed equally surprised that local government has authority over both state and federal agencies on some environmental matters, such as wastewater discharges, zoning, and local air permits.

We know how challenging it is to manage Washington’s dangerous waste for a population of 6.8 million residents. Imagine trying to do this for a population of 1.3 billion!

The Chinese delegation with staff from the Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program.