China should establish an efficient system to recycle its huge numbers of mineral water bottles, said Professor Gert Michel, a German hydro-geologist, Thursday at China's first international mineral water forum, held in Baishan in the northeastern Jilin Province.

Statistics from the Ministry of Land and Resources show China has more than 1,000 mineral water producers with a gross annual output of three million tons.

Michel said that the growth of mineral water consumption will necessarily cause more pollution. It would be a big saving of resources and a feasible way of environmental protection, he said, if the huge number of mineral water bottles were recycled by a specialized institution in China.

He said an efficient bottle recycling system had been long established in Germany, which was founded by a cooperative institution of the mineral water enterprises.

As the world's biggest bottle recycling system, Germany's boasts a capacity of two billion bottles and 175 million paper boxes, and every bottle can be reused 30 to 50 times.

There are around 230 mineral water producers in Germany, the majority of which are small and medium-sized enterprises, Michel said. They had acquired great economic benefits from the advanced system.  

China does not possess such a system, and mineral water is contained in plastic bottles that can not be recycled.

Jiang Jianjun, official of the Ministry of Land and Resources, said a recycling system of mineral water bottles would be useful to China, especially considering the shortage of natural resources and serious environmental problems in China today.

The forum is an important part of China's first mineral water festival, which opened here Wednesday. At the opening ceremony of the festival Baishan was named "International Mineral Water City" by the International Foundation for the Protection of Drinking Water. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2004)