China's environmental watchdog will begin a cleaner production experiment on dozens of small and medium-sized enterprises selected from pharmaceutical, printing and dyeing, electroplating, paper-making and brewery industries in six months.

Wang Jirong, vice-director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), made the remark Wednesday at the letter of intent signing ceremony of a cleaner production program.

Lasting for three years, the program will cost US$720,000, which is sponsored by Dow Chemical, one of the leading global chemical giants known for strict environmental standards.

"Although cleaner production is compulsory for enterprises according to China's law, many of them are hesitating and lack motivation. This program intends to show them that cleaner production is not a burden but can bring profits," said Zhang Lijun, head of SEPA Pollution Control Department.

Cleaner production means to use clean technologies in the production process and recycle the discharge at the end. It is considered a leap forward from China's old practice of "treatment after pollution".

China promulgated the Regulation on the Promotion of Cleaner Production in 2003, 20 years after it first realized to minimize pollution in the production process in 1983.

However, promotion of cleaner production is not as smooth as the legislators have imagined.

According to Wang, major problems preventing enterprises from cleaner production include a lack of funds and technologies, a defective environmental management system, rare channels to get updated information and absence of market incentives.

"It is necessary to cooperate with multinationals. With experience and advanced technologies in cleaner production, they set up models for Chinese enterprises," Zhang said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2004)