No more solid clay bricks for construction: ministries
www.chinaview.cn 2004-03-17 14:36:54
BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Four central government ministries have jointly released a circular demanding China's local governments speed up moves to ban the use of solid clay bricks in construction.
The rapid growth in construction has caused a boom in demand for bricks, which led to other problems such as soil loss, air pollution and energy waste.
The ban on the use of solid clay bricks aims to protect limited land resources and the environment. The government has strictly limited the use of farmland for kilns since 1998.
The government initiated in 2000 the ban on solid clay bricks and tiles in new buildings in all municipalities, large and mid-sized cities in coastal areas, and cities in provinces where per capita farmland is less than 0.053 hectares.
Most cities had implemented the ban, but a few had failed to achieve the goal, said an official of the State Development and Reform Commission.
The next 20 years would a crucial time for China to construct a well-off society, which would produce a huge demand for building materials, so the ban on solid clay bricks was urgently required, he said.
The circular said cities that had met the goal should extend the ban to the other kinds of clay bricks, and cities which fail to meet the goal should do so by the end of the year.
Studies show that using hollow bricks, recycled waste and othernew building materials instead of solid clay bricks can save 47 percent of the energy in producing wall materials and 30 to 50 percent of the heating energy of dwellings.
China has totally closed about 6,000 small brick kilns. Compared with 26 percent in 1999, new materials now account for 35 percent of the total wall materials in China. Enditem
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