Steel plant makes sculptures, not smoke

Delong took initiative to cut production and invested in treatment of pollutants

To Han Yunhong, the steel plant is her workplace. However, it is an amusement park for her daughter.

The Xingtai Delong Iron & Steel Co is among dozens of steel plants in northern China's Hebei province, a major steel and coal producer in the country. Instead of producing smoke and thick dust, the plant, covering an area of more than 120 hectares, is a national 3A-rated tourist attraction, with lush trees and clean air.

Visitors are taken on a tour where they can see more than 200 steel sculptures shaped in the forms of popular movie characters such as Optimus Prime and Megatron－all made by workers using steel parts in their spare time.

"My mom works at a scenic spot," said Han's daughter as she smiled widely.

Mei Yanbin, who also works at the factory, is called "Master Mei" for his skilled craftsmanship. Souvenirs such as toy blocks and globes made by Mei and his colleagues using slag, steel plates, iron wire and screws in their spare time have become popular among tourists.

The company even opened reservations online for factory visits from the second half of last year. More than 80,000 people have visited the plant so far.
"Visitors include members from the public, officials and workers from other steel companies," said Yang Shengmin, deputy director of the company's general office. "All of them felt the sharp contrast between us and other steel plants.

"After we were graded as a national 3A-rated tourist attraction, we were allowed to charge a 70 yuan ($10) ticket fee," Yang said. "But we never did. Meeting the standards as an industrial tourism site forced us to keep doing a better job in environmental protection."

Li Heyu, a visitor from Baoding city in Hebei, described his experience of the factory. "I imagined steel plants to be covered in black smoke and thick dust, but this one totally changed that idea," Li said.

The workers too have seen how the factory has been transformed over the years.

Liu Yunzhong has been working at Delong for almost two decades, and is one of those who has witnessed the changes.

"In the past, our shirt collars would turn black after taking a walk around the factory, and even our nails and skin would be stained by the end of the day," Liu said. "We even had to use sandpaper to scrub our bodies once in a while."

Hebei has been blamed for the prolonged heavy smog in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the past decade. Official data shows that the four industries of steel, power, concrete and glass accounted for more than 60 percent of the total industrial emissions in the province.

Knowing that high-polluting manufacturing is not sustainable, Delong took the initiative in 2009 to cut its capacity by 1 million metric tons and invested heavily in the treatment of pollutants.

"We threw in money at a pace of 1 million yuan a day, and we did that for more than 200 days in 2012," said Liu Guoqi, general manager of the company.

"The environment of the plant soon improved, and now we have put a total of 2 billion yuan into environmental conservation projects."

The company also built five stockyards, and vehicles are automatically washed when going in and out the plant.

"Our emissions level is much lower than the strictest national standards," said Xiao Ran, director of the company's general office.

In 2013, the central government unveiled a five-year national clean air action plan aimed at improving air quality through measures such as shutting down polluting factories, limiting car use and replacing coal with clean energy. Hebei alone has cut its steel production capacity by more than 150 million tons since then.

More factories have also followed suit. Since 2017, nearly 10 steel plants across the country have been transformed from major polluters to national 3A-rated scenic spots.

Delong still wants to do more. Since the beginning of this year, the company has completed a total of 288 projects with the aim of becoming a national 4A-rated tourist attraction.

"The appearance is also part of the company's assets," said general manager Liu.

"It is not easy for a steel company to be recognized by society. We hope to help build an ecocity with green manufacturing by continually improving our ability in pollution treatment."

XINHUA