Steven Zhang is a US Fulbright Fellow doing research with the College of Environmental and Resource Sciences at Zhejiang University. He recently graduated in the seventh class of Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Boston. Steven previously spoke at our HZGD#16 event last year in October (See details and his PPT here: http://www.greendrinks.org/Hangzhou). Since then, he has been continuing his research and field studies and he will be giving us some of his findings. Steven has been visiting factories and interviewing factory managers in Zhejiang to document environmental protection actions and attitudes. In this presentation he will present some findings on: 1. Innovative environmental protection and waste reuse practices, including Circular Economy practices. 2. How do factory managers in Zhejiang province view environmental protection? 3. How these findings could affect public policy.

1. 1
All you ever wanted to know
about Zhejiang factories
A$tudes
and
prac/ces
of
waste
reuse,
recycling,
and
environmental
protec/on
of
Zhejiang
manufacturers
Steven
Zhang
Hangzhou
Green
Drinks
June
6,
2013

2. About me
2

3. 3
Research locations

4. Factory demographics
17
factories
total
4

5. Smallest factory
10 workers
100 square meters
5

6. Biggest
factory
10,000
workers
Several
square
KM

7. Factory demographics
11
in
Zhejiang
7

8. Factory demographics
Half
business
to
business
8

9. Factory demographics
6
were
foreign
invested,
2
foreign
subsidiaries
9

10. Interviewees

11. Demographics
• All
male
except
one
female
• Average
age:
40
• 1/3
CEO,
1/3
VP,
1/3
other
white
collar
• All
except
one
went
to
higher
educa/on
• 2/3
went
to
university

12. Qualita/ve
research
≠
sta/s/cs
12

13. Theme 1. Environmental consciousness
exists, is improving, but has a long way to go
• 环保 huánbǎo
:
• Environmental
protec/on
(noun)
• Environmentally
friendly
(adjec/ve)
• 意识 yìshí
：
• consciousness,
awareness
• 文明 wénmíng
：
• civilized,
cultured
13

14. Theme 1 Quotes
• Mr.
Xu,
VP
of
large
chemical
company
• “You
know,
these
few
years,
huanbao
goden
more
and
more
important。
Before,
who
would
have
thought
about
huanbao
or
not?
No
one.
When
I
was
growing
up
this
sort
of
yishi
just
wasn’t
there
at
all.”
• Mr.
Tao,
VP
of
electronics
company.
Worked
abroad
at
MNC
for
20
years
• “North
America
and
Europe
is
rather
strict
about
environmental
protec/on.
Things
are
ge$ng
beder,
but
here
in
China,
the
awareness
is
just
some/mes
not
there.
For
example,
heavy
metals.
We
do
predy
well
on
this
area.
But
smaller
companies
have
totally
no
idea
about
heavy
metals
and
their
environmental/health
impacts,
and
don’t
do
anything
about
it.
• Mr.
Tai,
manager
at
recycling
company
• “So
my
boss,
the
CEO
of
this
company,
he’s
worked
his
way
to
the
top.
But
he
is
uncultured
(没有文化).
That
is
part
of
the
reason
we
don’t
do
so
well
on
environmental
protec/on.”
14

15. Theme 2. Perceived relationship between
China’s economic development and
environmental protection
15
China
before
1970
China
now
Western
Europe,
North
America
now;
China
in
30
years
Economic
development
Environmental
protec/on

16. Stage 1. “Not enough to eat”
16
China
before
1970
China
now
Western
Europe,
North
America
now
Economic
development
Environmental
protec/on
Mr.
Liang:
CEO
of
electronics
company:
“Back
20
years
ago,
when
I
was
growing
up,
there
was
no
such
thing
as
huanbao
(environmentally
protec/on)
or
not…
“Everything
was
huanbao…
we
never
used
pes/cides
on
the
farm.
All
those
plants
were
safe
to
eat…
“…I
remember
when
I
was
a
child,
I
ate
just
rice
and
vegetables
all
the
8me.
Meat
was
a
luxury.
Everyone
was
always
in
some
semi-­‐
hungry
state.
Not
starving
like
China
in
the
50s
or
60s.
But
not
full
either.
We
didn’t
have
enough
to
eat.

17. Stage 1. “Not enough to eat”
17
China
before
1970
China
now
Western
Europe,
North
America
now
Economic
development
Environmental
protec/on
Mr.
Fu,
VP
of
a
toy
company:
“The
rela/onship
between
ED
and
EP
are
actually
very
close.
China,
the
US,
every
country
at
the
beginning
of
their
development
stages
didn’t
have
enough
to
eat.
When
I
was
young,
we
didn’t
have
this
problem
of
environmental
destruc/on
or
what
not,
or
at
least
we
didn’t
think
about
it”

18. Stage 1. “Not enough to eat”
18
China
before
1970
China
now
Western
Europe,
North
America
now
Economic
development
Environmental
protec/on
Mr.
Liang:
CEO
of
electronics
company:
“Back
20
years
ago,
when
I
was
growing
up,
there
was
no
such
thing
as
huanbao
(environmentally
protec/on)
or
not…
“Everything
was
huanbao…
we
never
used
pes8cides
on
the
farm.
All
those
plants
were
safe
to
eat…
“…I
remember
when
I
was
a
child,
I
ate
just
rice
and
vegetables
all
the
/me.
Meat
was
a
luxury.
Everyone
was
always
in
some
semi-­‐
hungry
state.
Not
starving
like
China
in
the
50s
or
60s.
But
not
full
either.
We
didn’t
have
enough
to
eat.

19. China
before
1970
China
now
Western
Europe,
North
America
now;
China
in
30
years
Economic
development
Environmental
protec/on
“Before
everyone
not
very
good
with
environmental
consciousness
but
now
with
social
media
and
other
things…
Chinese
manufacturing
is
ge$ng
more
and
more
into
huanbao
环保”
“Chinese
people
may
not
have
the
yishi
意识
(consciousness)
as
Western
countries,
but
now
we‘re
ge$ng
beder
at
it.
China’s
headed
in
a
good
direc/on
I
think”
Stage 2. Rising environmental
consciousness…
19

20. China
before
1970
China
now
Western
Europe,
North
America
now;
China
in
30
years
Economic
development
Environmental
protec/on
Mr.
Tai,
manager
at
Ire
company:
“Our
level
of
culture-­‐
ness
(人口素质)
is
not
there
yet
Government
subsidies,
regula/ons,
the
only
ways
that
we
can
get
people
to
care
about
being
sustainable”
Stage 2 …and stricter laws
20

21. Stage 3. Be like Western Europe and
North America
21
China
before
1970
China
now
Western
Europe,
North
America
now;
China
in
30
years
Economic
development
Environmental
protec/on
Mr.
Deng,
Division
Head
at
very
large,
foreign-­‐owned,
electronics
company
“Everyone
knows:
the
water
in
America.
It’s
so
clear…
But
look
at
the
Taihu
[Lake
Tai].
You
can't
even
see
the
water
in
it!
That’s
because
factories
have
been
just
dumping
chemicals
directly
into
it!”

22. Theme 3. Bad environment = immediate
impact on personal health
22
“Being
huanbao
is
good
for
personal
health”
“20
years
ago,
when
I
was
growing
up,
everything
was
huanbao…
we
never
used
pes/cides
on
the
farm.
All
those
plants
were
safe
to
eat…”

23. Theme 3. Bad environment = immediate
impact on personal health
“Its
clear
the
problems
not
doing
huanbao
has
had
on
the
environment.
People
are
ge9ng
sick.
Too
much
pollu<on…
the
air
really
is
just
too
bad.
People
are
geEng
sick.
People
all
around
us,
are
geEng
cancer…
In
the
future,
when
we
all
have
money,
but
the
food,
water,
none
of
it
safe,
then
what's
the
point!
Then
I'd
rather
increase
regula<ons
to
factories,
have
them
spend
a
liCle
more
money”
23

24. 24
How
does
this
apply?
Theme 1. Environmental consciousness exists, is
improving, but has a long ways to go
Theme 3. Bad environment = immediate impact on
personal health
Theme 2. Perceived relationship between China’s
economic development and environmental protection

25. 25
• Mr.
Deng,
electronics
factory:
“Our
factory
doesn’t
have
any
environmental
impact,
everything
is
huanbao.
We
only
use
electricity
here,
and
we
don’t
pollute
or
waste
at
all.
There’s
no
water
pollu/on.
We
don’t
have
any
air
pollu/on.
Everything
is
huanbao.”
Theme 4. Factory is huanbao as long as
it doesn’t pollute directly

26. Theme 4. Factory is huanbao as long as
it doesn’t pollute directly
Mr.
Yu,
cable
manufacturing:
“I
mean,
our
products
meet
RoHS
and
other
cer/fica/ons
so
they
are
huanbao….
…We
have
no
real
waste…
lezover
plas/c
from
injec/on
molding
is
reused
anyways.
…and
all
of
packaging
and
other
waste
are
taken
by
recyclers
anyways…
…so
I
don’t
think
huanbao
really
a
problem
for
us…”
26

27. Theme 5. “let the recyclers take care of
it”
Mr.
Yu,
cable
manufacturing:
“I
mean,
our
products
meet
RoHS
and
other
cer/fica/ons
so
they
are
huanbao….
…We
have
no
real
waste…
lezover
PVC/PE
from
injec/on
molding
is
reused
anyways.
…and
all
of
packaging
and
other
waste
are
taken
by
recyclers
anyways…
…so
I
don’t
think
huanbao
really
a
problem
for
us…”
27

28. 28
Theme 5. secondary waste market as
way to off-load burden

29. 29
Theme 5. secondary trash market as way
to off-load burden
Me:
“What
do
you
do
with
this?
Do
you
sort
it?”
Mr.
Feng,
Heavy
equipment
manufacturer:
“How
can
we?
We
don’t
have
the
equipment
for
this.
We
just
sell
it
to
the
recyclers.
They
do
what
they
want
with
it.
They
sort
it
…
we
just
pack
it
up
in
bags
and
let
them
go
with
it.

30. Theme 6. Environmentally-beneficial
innovations from various incentives
30
¥
Environmental
benefit
to
society
Image
incenIve
Price
incenIve
Gov’t
incenIve

31. Theme 6: image incentive example
IncenIve
for
company
• Market
“green”
product
to
interna/onal
customers
to
increase
global
profile
of
company
• Compete
on
something
other
than
price
Environmental
benefit
to
society
• Raises
environmental
awareness
and
consciousness
of
Chinese
public
as
by
product
• Actual
tangible
environmental
benefit
of
program
ques/onable
31

32. Theme 6. Price incentive example
32
IncenIve
for
company:
• Recycling
used
/res
and
selling
the
rubber
to
other
companies
is
profitable
Environmental
benefit
to
society
• Provides
valuable
waste
disposal
service
for
/res
• Recovers
valuable
metal,
rubber
that
otherwise
would’ve
been
burnt

33. Theme 6: government incentive
example: material-energy
exchange
33
Wood chips/dust
Heat

34. 34
IncenIve
for
company:
• Government
subsidy
makes
payback
period
for
equipment
short
enough
to
be
worth
buying
Environmental
benefit
to
society
• Woodchips
are
incinerated
in
less
pollu/ng
way
• Less
electricity
is
used
for
hea/ng
energy
Theme
6.
Government
incenIve
example

35. 6 things to think about…
AWtudes
of
factory
managers:
• Consciousness
• Economic
development
• Personal
health
PracIces
in
factories
• Direct
pollu/on
• Secondary
waste
• Image,
price,
government
incen/ves
35

36. Contact Info
36