Nonprofit community kindergartens promoted

Nonprofit community kindergartens promoted

The authorities will promote nonprofit and inexpensive kindergartens affiliated to urban residential communities, a guideline issued on Jan 22 said.

Issued by the General Office of the State Council, it targets problems in the planning, construction, transfer and operation of preschools affiliated with urban communities.

It stipulates that urban communities that do not have their own kindergartens or those with an insufficient number of kindergartens will have to build or fund new ones.

Under the guideline, existing community-affiliated kindergartens should be handed over to local education and administrative authorities to be turned into public or inclusive private ones. Such kindergartens should be nonprofit, it said.

The guideline also set a schedule for efforts to rectify problems. Local authorities should complete a thorough investigation of kindergartens affiliated with urban communities before the end of April, and then come up with rectification measures.

A task force will be set up for the campaign, involving officials from the State Council, the Ministry of Education and several other ministerial-level departments.

The guideline also called for better coordination among different departments to ensure the rectification of existing problems. Individuals found to be derelict in their duties or who have violated laws and disciplinary requirements will be punished in accordance with the law, it said.

10-city pilot program to curb solid waste

The State Council, or the Cabinet, has launched a 10-city pilot program to reduce and better recycle solid waste, according to a notice published by the General Office of the State Council on Jan 21.

The notice is aimed at promoting the reduction and recycling of solid waste in cities so that landfills can be minimized and the environmental impact of solid waste can be reduced to the lowest possible level.

The notice said the pilot program does not mean there will be no solid waste generated in such cities, nor will there be total recycling of solid waste. Instead, it refers to the notion of city management requiring long-term exploration and practice.

The program will target big solid waste problems and illegal landfills, and identify weak links and key procedures in the generation, gathering, transfer and disposal of solid waste in cities.

According to the notice, by 2020, an index system, an integrated management system and a technical system for the program will be established, and significant progress should be made in key areas in the pilot cities.

The notice emphasized giving play to the role of government and refining the statistical system for solid waste. It also stressed the importance of advocating green industrial production, especially in the mining sector, to enable the recycling of solid waste from mines in pilot cities by 2020.

The standards system will be further refined to better address the recycling of bulk industrial solid waste, the notice said.

It also underlined the importance of promoting green production in the agricultural sector to promote recycling its waste.

A green lifestyle will be promoted among the general public to reduce sources of everyday garbage.

The production, sale and use of non-degradable plastic bags and plastic tableware will be restricted, and green packaging materials will be promoted in the express delivery sector, the notice said. The authorities will also implement a mechanism to charge residents based on the weight of their daily garbage, and the recycling of construction waste will be advanced.

Subsidies will be offered for the recycling of animal waste and crop straw as organic fertilizers, the notice said, adding that incentives will be provided for new business models and technologies for the recycling of solid waste.

The pilot program will start in the first half of this year and end by 2021.