Beijing and its neighbors are breathing much cleaner air
Print Edition
AFTER five years fighting air pollution, Beijing and neighbors are breathing noticeably cleaner air, with sales of anti-smog mask down markedly.
The average density of the hazardous to health PM2.5 particles in Beijing was 58 micrograms per cubic meter last year, meeting the target and 20.5 percent less than in 2016, said Liu Baoxian, deputy director of Beijing’s environmental protection monitoring center.
Densities of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and PM10 also dropped by 20 percent, 4.2 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.
The 226 good air days in 2017 were 28 more than in 2016, while the number of heavy-pollution days fell from 39 to 23.
A plan to improve air quality issued by the State Council in September 2013 ordered Beijing to reduce its PM2.5 density from 90 in 2013 to around 60mg per cubic meter by the end of last year.
Among pollution controls were demolition of coal-fired boilers and the phasing out vehicles with high emissions, according to Li Xiang, of Beijing’s bureau of environmental protection.
Li said small coal-fired boilers had almost vanished, replaced by gas or electricity, and all districts in the city proper had stopped coal use.
Since 2013, Beijing has shut down six cement plants and closed or upgraded nearly 2,000 companies in printing, casting, furniture manufacture and other sectors, she said.
Air quality has also improved in the neighboring Hebei Province. The smog-prone province reported fairly good air quality for 66 percent of days since October 1, the best record in five years, environmental protection authorities said.
Improved air quality has cut sales of masks. At Gukang Pharmacy in Yuhua District in Shijiazhuang, Hebei’s capital, sales of smog masks dropped by 60-70 percent this winter compared with the same period in 2016.
Beijing and nearby areas, however, are far from pollution-free — air quality there is still worse than the national average. The region is home to half of the 10 most polluted cities across the country.
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