For environmental protection needs, "recyclable economy" boasts a promising developing trend, said Wang Weiping, official of the Beijing Municipal Administration Committee.

Speaking at a recent meeting on environmental protection and green industry, Wang said that as a brand-new mode of economic development, circular economy was drawing worldwide attention.

Different from the traditional mode, circular economy integrates cleaner production and comprehensive utilization of industrial pollutants, replacing the traditional "resources-products-pollutants" mode with a "resources-products-renewed resources" one.

Wang said it was the most effective way to solve energy shortage and environmental pollution at the same time.

By 2003, China had become world's biggest coal consumer and second biggest consumer of petroleum and power, while using half the world's cement and 35 percent of iron ore, Wang said.

However, according to statistics of the Ministry of Construction, China's urban areas produced 140 million tons of garbage in 2002, of which less than 20 percent was innocuously treated.

Wang said that the development of recyclable economy would help improve environmental protection in China. 

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2004)