Local officials must have solid grasp of all environmental laws

ALTHOUGH A LAW ON THE PREVENTION and control of solid waste pollution has been in place for 22 years, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, found that some local governments have no idea of the existence of such a law and bids to make people sort their garbage have repeatedly failed. Beijing News comments:

We all want to live in a cleaner environment, yet we all produce and discard large amounts of solid waste every day.

It is a big surprise that some local officials are ignorant of such an important environmental protection law. If the law had been strictly enforced, many environmental crises resulting from the casual dumping of hazardous solid waste could have been avoided.