China must tighten controls on its bamboo-pulp papermaking industry to limit environmental damage, an official from the country's environment watchdog has said.
Mu Guangfeng, an inspector from China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), warned against the unfettered development of bamboo-pulp papermaking, saying local forest and water conditions had to be taken into account.
He said some local governments and bamboo-pulp papermaking enterprises throw environmental considerations to the wind in their pursuit of profit.
The waste water discharged during the bamboo-pulp papermaking process is not recyclable, so the industry should not be allowed to develop in areas where water supplies are inadequate and the water cannot purify itself, he said.
Mu said the country should learn from previous experiences of papermaking in some parts of the country that have led to severe water pollution.
Earlier reports said papermaking companies along the Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River, in western Shaanxi Province had boosted the river's chemical oxygen demand (COD, a major index of water pollution) to 270,000 tons, 3 times over the normal limit.
Environmental protection officials have recently ordered the closure of eight hugely polluting paper-making factories on the banks of Dongting Lake, China's second largest freshwater lake, because of a severe deterioration in water quality.
Mu stressed that the production of bamboo-pulp papermaking factories should be adjusted to take account of forest resilience.
Authorities should assess the environmental impact of bamboo-pulp papermaking before granting authorizations, in order to limit environmental damage, he said.
"No production project should begin until the assessment is complete", he said.
Mu urged authorities to check up on papermaking companies and compel them to reduce the discharge of pollutants and come up with new and innovative methods of treating pollutants.
China consumed 52 million tons of paper pulp in 2005.
The country plans to expand its production of paper pulp over the next five years by 5.55 million tons, including 1.2 million tons of bamboo paper pulp.
Paper made from bamboo pulp is cheaper than paper made from wood pulp and less polluting than paper made from straw pulp.