China has cooperated with Canada in the development of a project on cleaner production. One of the successes in the cooperation is the reform of the cement industry in China which had significant inefficiencies in the use of resources and machinery. This was achieved by industrial restructuring which resulted in the closure of up to 50% of inefficient companies in the country. Since 2003, the Chinese central government has issued executive regulations to cool down several over-heated and rapidly expanding industries (including the cement sector) by denying construction permits for new plants and by restricting bank loans and financing from the stock market, but still encouraging funding for facility upgrades. By the end of 2003, China had 351 new type dry cement production lines of more than 700 tons/day, of which 188 lines had been put into operation, 138 were under construction, and 25 were ready to be constructed. Among all of them, there are 47 large size dry clinker lines with a daily production capacity of more than 4,000 tons/day, of which 14 lines are operating, 23 are under construction, and 10 have received permission for building. After completion, China will acquire a yearly cement capacity of 240 million tons with the new type of dry cement production technology (Wang et al, 2004).

Air pollution has been a concern for cement industries worldwide. In recent years, as a result of advanced control technology and equipment design, such as EP and bag filter facilities, significant progress has been reached in reducing air emissions from the cement industrial sector. For a new plant today, air pollution emissions are at least 90% less than those from typical facilities built 30-40 years ago. Through the partnership with the Canadians, China has been able to reduce its emission from the cement industry to compete with words’ cleanest producers of cement in terms of pollution.

Water pollution in cement production is not a pertinent problem but solid wastes in dust are. One good example is Nan Xin Cement plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. By using CP and Circular Economy (CE) in order to control dust emission and to implement recycling as well as production expansion, the Company invested more than 2 million RMBs[1] to convert wet membrane collection equipment, the low-efficiency type, into a baghouse with high efficiency. From the process, the local emission standard for dust has been reached, and in addition, it obtained remarkable economic benefits. The dust collected with the membrane had high moisture content and was difficult for raw material substitution. With the baghouse technique, dust can be recycled and reused. The estimated annual amount of dust collected is more than 8,000 tons. If the original material costs about 100 RMB per ton, an annual saving is of 800,000 RMB, with an addition of 300,000 RMB from the deduction in discharge/emission fees, a total benefit of one million RMB is realized. Extra operation cost and labor amount to about 700,000 RMB, so the net economic benefit is 300,000 BMB and the amortized capital investment for the equipment can be repaid within eight years. The provincial authorities have used this example to publicize benefits and to encourage other plants in the sector to adopt CP/CE principles to fit their individual needs for dust collectors, and to include the recycling unit into the production process management with regular inspection and maintenance to assure its proper operation. Adaptation of CP is applicable in the cement industry as the industry produces 5% of the manmade carbon dioxide affecting climate change (Wang et al, 2004).

[1] RMB The official currency in China is the Renminbi (RMB or CNY) or in Chinese “Ren-min-bi”. The basic unit is the yuan (also known as “kuai”),which equals 10 jiao (or “mao”), which is then divided into 10 fen