The Ministry of Ecology and Environment ("MEE") has recently issued the Standard for Pollution Control on the Hazardous Waste Landfill (Published Version) (the "Standard"), with effect from June 1, 2020.
The Standard sets out the conditions for access of hazardous waste to landfill, and requirements for ecological and environmental protection with respect to the site selection, design, construction, operation, seal and monitoring of landfills. The older version was first released in 2001, and the Standard is the first-ever amendment which incorporates main changes as below. The first is standardizing the technical requirements for selection of sites for hazardous waste landfill; the second is tightening the criteria for access of hazardous waste to landfills; the third is tightening the requirements for control of sewage discharge by hazardous waste landfills; and the fourth is improving the technical requirements for operation and monitoring of hazardous waste landfills. The Standard expressly states that foul-smelling contaminants and environmental noise emitted by hazardous waste landfills shall be governed by the corresponding national standards for pollutant discharge, adding that the self-monitoring of hazardous waste landfills should be performed in line with the requirements set out in this Standard at the moment, and later follow the self-monitoring guide for pollutant discharge entities in the industry, once published.