Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemicals that adversely affect human health and environmental quality when released into the air, water or soil. These pollutants persist in the environment, bio-accumulate through the food web, and cause great damage to human and animal tissue even in small quantities. This leads to damage in the nervous, immune, and reproductive systems or can causes developmental disorders, such as cancer. 

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), as a family member of the Dioxins, are listed in the Stockholm Convention Annex C¹ as unintentionally produced Persistent Organic Pollutants (UPOPs). They occur as a by-products of many industrial processes, including waste incineration, papermaking, and metallurgical processes and in the production process of non-ferrous metals. 

This issue brief provides an overview of the UPOPs control in the Secondary Copper industry in China, alongside current institutional and legal arrangements and finally provides suggestions for the way forward in China.