Environmental Technologies Centre of Industrial Collaboration (ETCIC) was able to enlighten a recent Chinese delegation to the region on it's activities and potential areas of collaboration in tackling environmental issues.

Organised by Archomai, ETCIC hosted a visit by the vice mayor of Jilin City, Mr Zhang Xiaopei. Jilin City, one of 30 largest cities in China, is located on the Songhua Lake at the end of the Changbai mountain range. The city has a total population of 4.25 million and an area of 27100 square km.

The delegation took place on the 8th June 2006 at ETCIC's Staff House and was part of the "Business Week" event which took place across Yorkshire and Humberside.

Mr Xiaopei was given the opportunity to see the work of ETCIC and explore the opportunities to collaborate on a range of environmental issues.

ETCIC gave a presentation on its available technologies, including recycling, waste reduction, composting, pathogen detection and its "lab-on-a-chip" technology.

During the presentation a number of potential areas for collaboration were explored, including training, student exchange, effluent treatment and environmental management programmes.

The Chinese delegation was keen to further discuss these opportunities, in order to help in producing globally sustainable products and whenever possible, conserving resources.

"With the emergence of China as one of the biggest powers on the international stage, it is important that we impart our knowledge of sound environmental practice to a nation that is growing at a phenomenal rate. I was more than encouraged by the reaction of the Chinese representatives at the event, who were very keen to consider the environment and work with us to protect it. I have no doubt that the environment is high on the agenda for the individuals that I met and that future collaboration will be possible", stated Dr David Calvert, ETCIC Commercial Manager.