China closes hundreds of battery plants

China/Japan – A total of 583 lead-acid battery manufacturing plants have been shut down in China over recent months as part of a campaign to strictly enforce environmental standards on this booming sector, according to a statement issued on August 2 by the country’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

The factories were forced to close for a variety of reasons ranging from improper disposal of hazardous waste through to their small production scale and poor technical standards.
A total of 1930 lead-acid battery production, assembly and recycling plants had been inspected as of the end of July under a nationwide exercise initiated in March this year by nine government departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the MEP. Of these, 252 were given permission to continue operating, 80 others are still under construction and operations at 1015 of the plants were suspended, reads the statement. Details of all the lead-acid battery plants have been revealed, including whether production is suspended or continuing, capacity, production process used, and whether their emissions meet the required standards.
In 2010, following the swift development of its electric car and bike industries, China accounted for a quarter of global lead-acid battery production and is home to more plants engaged in this activity than any other country. At the same time, heavy metal pollution is a serious concern in China, not least because of the high levels of lead detected in the blood of more than 200 children in Anqing city in central China’s Anhui Province in January this year.