In recent years, Baotou has further promoted the construction of a "zero-waste city" and has continuously improved its solid industrial waste utilization and disposal capacity.

Baotou's comprehensive solid industrial waste utilization rate increased from 34.72 percent in 2018 to 52.14 percent in 2022, effectively easing the pressure on storage and landfill disposal.

The city has further increased policy support regarding land, finance, taxation, science and technology, environmental protection, and other aspects to promote industrial agglomeration and the high-quality development of solid waste utilization.

In order to promote the comprehensive utilization of bulk solid industrial waste, such as flying ash, and coordinate the treatment of abandoned mines, Baotou has issued the first local ecology and environment standard for solid waste in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. These standards will ensure the quality of utilized solid industrial waste. 

Such standards for steel slag and flying, ash used in road construction, have already been formulated. Permeable bricks made from solid waste have been put into use throughout the city, and will be used in future water conservancy, road, and other municipal projects.

Baotou has also strengthened its intelligent supervision and management, and has taken the lead in launching the construction project for a solid industrial waste network monitoring platform. At present, it has accessed 219 key solid waste enterprises and 451 video point locations.

Additionally, the city has encouraged industries, universities, and research institutes to continue conducting research on solid industrial waste. Currently, there are 52 key enterprises such as Baogang Group, four universities such as Tsinghua University, and six research institutes such as the Peking University Baotou Innovation Research Institute, in Baotou that are conducting said research.