Hundreds of thousands of testing fees per year! Is it "difficult to self-prove" the environmental protection of powder coating enterprises?

In an industrial zone, a company specializing in the production of solid powder coatings is facing new challenges in environmental regulatory policies. The company has a good reputation in the industry for its high-quality products and environmentally friendly production processes, but the recent decision to be included in the list of key soil pollution supervision units has left the company's leaders confused and puzzled.

According to the company, its main business revolves around environmentally friendly powder coatings, from raw material selection to production process, all strictly follow national environmental protection standards. The main raw materials include resin and titanium dioxide, which do not contain harmful substances that pose a direct threat to the soil environment. In the production process, it has achieved zero wastewater discharge, and the only wastewater comes from the daily life of employees, and it is discharged up to the standard after scientific treatment by the municipal sewage treatment plant, ensuring zero impact on the surrounding groundwater and soil environment.

What is particularly noteworthy is that the enterprise refers to Article 10 of the Administrative Measures for the List of Key Environmental Supervision Units, which states that "key soil pollution supervision units shall be determined according to factors such as the needs of soil pollution prevention and control in their respective administrative regions, the discharge of toxic and harmful substances, and other factors". Check yourself one by one to confirm that you do not meet any of the inclusion criteria. In this context, being suddenly included in the key soil pollution supervision unit, requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent every year to conduct soil pollution status investigation and risk assessment, undoubtedly brought a heavy economic burden and unnecessary operating pressure to enterprises.

"We understand and support the government's determination to strengthen environmental protection, but as a company with a truly green production, we hope to be more precise and scientifically regulated." The person in charge of the company said, "Repeating high-cost soil testing every year not only wastes social resources, but also makes us enterprises that already meet environmental protection requirements feel aggrieved." ”

The company also mentioned that it had voluntarily completed a soil pollution survey a few years ago, and the results showed that its production and business activities had not caused any adverse impact on the soil environment. Therefore, they called on relevant departments to conduct in-depth research, adjust and improve environmental supervision policies in combination with the actual situation of enterprises, avoid "one-size-fits-all" extensive management, and truly implement precise policies, so that supervision has both strength and temperature.

"We look forward to establishing a smoother communication mechanism with government departments to jointly explore how to promote the healthy and sustainable development of enterprises while protecting the ecological environment." The person in charge of the enterprise emphasized, "Only in this way can we truly achieve a win-win situation of environmental protection and economic development." ”

This incident has also attracted wide attention in the industry. In fact, there are more or less companies in various places that have encountered a similar situation. So is there a possibility that powder coating production will contaminate the soil? In this regard, an authoritative person in the industry said: "Not at all"!

According to the data of Fun Paint (Fun Paint Network), powder coating has brought a green revolution to the field of modern industrial coating with its excellent environmental protection. Its biggest highlight is that it almost does not cause pollution to the environment: firstly, the powder coating is completely free of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during production and construction, which fundamentally eliminates the emission of harmful gases and effectively protects the atmospheric environment. Secondly, its high utilization rate and recyclability ensure the maximum use of resources, reduce the generation of waste, and reduce the consumption of natural resources. In addition, the powder coating film is durable, weather-resistant, and can maintain its beauty and function for a long time, extending the service life of the product, and indirectly reducing the environmental burden caused by frequent replacement. In summary, powder coatings have become an important force to promote the green development of industry with their environmental protection characteristics of non-polluting to the environment.

It is worth mentioning that the state and industry authorities attach great importance to powder coating and related industries, and have introduced a series of industrial policies that are conducive to the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.

The Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law implemented in 2016 involves VOCs limits in production and sales, and encourages the promotion of the use of low-toxicity and low-VOCs organic solvents; In the same year, the Action Plan for the Reduction of Volatile Organic Compounds in Key Industries required that the proportion of low-VOCs coatings should account for 60% by 2018;

In 2018, the state issued the "Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening the Protection of the Ecological Environment and Resolutely Fighting the Battle of Pollution Prevention and Control", which further requires strengthening source control, restricting the production and use of high-VOCs content paints and solvent-based projects with high VOCs content, and encouraging the production and use of low-VOCs content coatings;

In 2019, the state promulgated the "Guiding Catalogue for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2019 Edition)", "Key Points of National Air Pollution Prevention and Control in 2019", "Comprehensive Treatment Plan for Volatile Organic Compounds in Key Industries" and other regulations, further clarifying and strengthening environmental protection requirements;

On February 1, 2021, the "Technical Requirements for Coating Products with Low Volatile Organic Compound Content" (GB/T38597-2020) will be implemented, which clearly stipulates that powder coatings are coating products with low volatile organic compound content;

In December 2021, the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" Comprehensive Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction, which clearly requires that by 2025, the proportion of solvent-based industrial coatings will be reduced by 20 percentage points.

In December 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Administrative Measures for the List of Key Units for Environmental Supervision", which further subdivides the types of supervision objects, and clarifies that all enterprises above designated size in the industrial coating industry that use four types of low-volatile organic compound content coatings that meet national regulations such as water-based, solvent-free, radiation curing, and powder are not listed as key pollutant dischargers in the atmospheric environment.

Under the background of the continuous introduction of national industrial structure adjustment and environmental protection laws and policies, the concept of green environmental protection has been further rooted in the hearts of the people, and powder coatings have been more and more widely used, showing broad development prospects in the future.

According to professionals, although powder coatings are classified in the chemical industry, their unique production process ensures that the production process does not contain harmful substances, thereby significantly reducing the risk of soil and environmental pollution. In view of this characteristic, it seems that the direct inclusion of powder coating companies in the key supervision units of soil pollution does not fully conform to the principle of accuracy and effectiveness of environmental supervision.

As the leading force in environmental protection, the government's regulatory strategy should be based on a combination of scientific assessment and actual conditions. For environmentally friendly companies such as powder coatings, the government should avoid a "one-size-fits-all" regulatory approach, and instead adopt more flexible and differentiated management measures. This will not only reduce the compliance burden on enterprises, but also encourage more enterprises to adopt environmentally friendly production technologies and promote the green development of the entire industry.

Environmental supervision should adhere to the problem-oriented, accurately identify and focus on the supervision of those enterprises that have real environmental risks, and avoid unnecessary interference and burden on enterprises that have already met the standards or low risks. At the same time, enterprises are encouraged to take the initiative, actively participate in environmental protection work, and jointly promote the construction of ecological civilization.

With the continuous improvement of public awareness of environmental protection, cooperation and understanding between enterprises and government departments are particularly important. It is hoped that this case can become an opportunity to promote more scientific and reasonable environmental supervision, so that every enterprise can find its own position on the road of environmental protection, and jointly protect the beautiful home on which we live.