China Makes Progress in Reducing Use of HalonChina has made "substantial" progress in reducing the use of halon, believed to be an ozone-depleting substance, according to information released from a working meeting on eliminating halon on Wednesday.Halon is a kind of material once widely used in fire extinguishers. As part of its pledge to meet international obligations in ozone layer protection, China vowed to control the production and use of this material in 1992. In November of 1997, China issued a plan saying that it will completely eliminate the use of halon-1211 by the end of 2005 and stop the use of halon-1301 by January 1, 2010. According to information from the working meeting on November 22, China so far has closed eight halon-1211 factories and 38 halon extinguisher factories. In some big halon markets like Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai, the consumption of halon has dropped by over 50 percent. |
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