It takes half an hour on a high-speed train to travel from Beijing to Tianjin, an historic port city and center of industry in northern China. On arrival, visitors see that modern signs of change are clear - fine colonial architecture built by European settlers sits among gleaming skyscrapers.

But the city is now preparing for a better stage of growth as an eco-metropolis with cleaner production, a greener, low-carbon economy and an ecologically sound place to live.

Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area founded in 1984 is a major force contributing efforts to coordinate the development of the city's economy and society.

Greenery in TEDA now covers more than 16.55 million square meters, 21.5 percent of the land in the development zone.

It has now been selected as one of the first national pilot zones for a recycling economy.

The business climate is also alluring. Since the Ministry of Commerce began a comprehensive appraisal of the investment environments in 90 national-level development zones, TEDA has topped the list for 15 years in a row.

Recycling system

TEDA has developed an intricate system called industrial symbiosis for the environmental management in which companies collaborate to use each other's by-products and share resources.

Success stories include sustainable strides in the energy, automobile and biochemical sectors.

"Our company recycles the waste steel from Toyota's automobile production and then converts it into ingots used as raw materials for Toyota moulds," said an executive at Tianjin Fengtong Resources Recycling Co.

"The waste steel is fully recycled into useful materials."

Wang Rao, head of the automotive industry division at TEDA's investment promotion bureau, said the area is also moving to bring in component suppliers for new-energy vehicles and makers of advanced gearboxes. TEDA is home to about 111 automotive-related manufacturers including four automakers.

A new TEDA development area is the 200-sq km Nangang Industrial Zone that juts off the coast of the Bohai Sea. There, a new seawater desalination facility is under construction to provide water for industrial use in the area.

Heat needed for desalination mainly comes from thermal power plants. Highly condensed salt water from the desalination process will be recycled for salt chemical companies.

More efforts

In addition to promoting symbiotic enterprises, TEDA has developed an integrated water system to enhance treatment and attract more "green" enterprises.

"In the future, we will pay more attention to the water system in TEDA and the system within companies," said Wei Hongmei, chief engineer at TEDA's environmental protection bureau.

She said TEDA has constructed the nation's first artificial wetlands and man-made lake using 70,000 tons recycled water daily.

The area has also built a waste incineration plant with a daily processing capacity of 1,200 tons, enough to process a quarter of the refuse produced in Tianjin. It also offers cogeneration that uses waste heat to produce electricity.

Another public utility project under way in the Nangang Industrial Zone is a sewage treatment plant that produces industrial gas.

"Compared to traditional public facility projects, the projects in Nangang can save 30 percent of the investment for enterprises, and 20 percent of operation costs," said an official of the Nangang Industrial Zone.

As well, TEDA's environmental management authorities encourage companies to publicly release their corporate environmental protection reports.

"Disclosing environmental information is very helpful for us to maintain sustainable development and it provides us an opportunity to learn from others," said Wei Dong from Veolia, a French water treatment company in TEDA.

Lin Jishang, president of TEDA's environmental protection association, said the transparent information system is also a way to address increasing concerns about the local environment among both the public and investors.

"Many multinationals will first consider the ecological environment when they locate their projects," Lin said.

"They show more interest in an investment destination with a better ecology."

lvchang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/15/2013 page15)