Tianjin Development Zone Entitled Pilot Region for Environmental ProtectionTianjin Development Zone in the north China's port city of Tianjin has recently won a national award for its great efforts in environmental protection and it is the fifth zone with the "ISO14000 Pilot Region" status in China.ISO14000 is an international standard in the field of advanced environment management. China has started a campaign to select pilot regions from among local high-tech development zones as a measure to increase its sustainable development. Tianjin Development Zone, as one of the largest and the most profitable development zones in China, has so far had more than 3,000 enterprises with 170,000 employees. Last year, the development zone reported an industrial output of 73.2 billion yuan, paid 3.8 billion yuan as taxes to the state and gained 3.1 billion US dollars from exports. Local authorities have developed the region, which was originally a salt pond covering 33 square kilometers, into a comprehensive economic zone covering a wide range of environment-friendly enterprises. The region has invested a total of 2 billion yuan in improving the regional eco-system. Currently, it has a total 3.54 million square meters of green land, a life sewage processing plant and an industrial sewage processing plant with a daily capacity of 100,000 tons and 1,000 tons, respectively. It has also set up a data bank recording pollutant information, using a geographical information system to ensure pollution control. The four other high-tech development zones with the "ISO14000 Pilot Region status are in Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi and Dalian cities. |
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