Baotou in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region has been working hard to optimize and restructure its industrial base in a more efficient, green and environmentally friendly way, according to local officials.

They said it had accelerated resource conservation and environmental protection and promoted the green transformation and high-quality development its old industry in  recent years, as part of the Baotou’s efforts towards becoming a zero-waste city.

Baotou city has been advancing its development as a zero-waste city since it was selected to be a national zero-waste pilot city in 2019.

A zero-waste city is an advanced urban development and management model that aims to promote ecofriendly lifestyles, minimize waste, strengthen recycling programs and ensures that harmful waste is not released into the environment.

In terms of industry, policies and measures -- such as the Work Plan for Optimizing Space Layout – blueprints have been issued to guide the promotion and development of the city’s economic model.

Officials said Baotou has continued to adjust and refine its energy structure.

They said it has actively promoted the establishment of renewable energy application demonstration areas, as well as moved up the deployment of new energy utilization projects such as solar and wind energy in coal mining subsidence areas and in mining restoration areas including Shiguai district and Tumd Right Banner.

The city has carried on rolling out new green manufacturing ecosystem. The plan – called Measures for Assessment and Evaluation of Baotou Industrial Parks -- was revised and completed. Officials said that indicators, including the creation of green parks, were incorporated into the assessment and evaluation index system.

In addition, the city continues to improve its supervision of waste. It has developed a networked monitoring platform for industrial solid waste -- and used big data and internet technology to promote the establishment of a complete and detailed intelligent supervision model for industrial solid waste in the city.