China

The Chinese State Environmental Protection Administration's Foreign Economic Co-operation Office said China will stop production of CFCs by the end of 2010 - as specified by the Montreal Protocol - by dismantling production in 37 CFC-producing enterprises across the country. The production of CFCs in China - the largest producer and consumer of CFCs wordwide - now stands at nearly 30 000 tons a year, down from 45 000 tons in 1999 when the country began phasing out. http://china.org.cn - China is drafting a "home appliances recycling law" which will make it mandatory for makers to recycle their products at their own cost; this law resembles existing regulations in Japan, the US and Europe. It will concern the 4 million refrigerators which are discarded annually. http://jarn.co.jp