China is putting stricter rules in place around soil pollution to make sure polluting companies are prevented from creating toxic environments for residential communities, schools and hospitals, ensuring only good quality land is used for building projects.

The move was necessary to combat soil pollution, and especially to control the deterioration of land inside and nearby polluting plants, according to a statement from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

A joint survey conducted by the ministries of environmental protection and of land and resources in 2014 showed 36.3 percent of surveyed samples were polluted - with 34.9 percent of samples from former industrial zones and 29.4 percent of samples from industrial zones being found to be contaminated.