Shaoxing Issues Trial Guideline on Negotiated Indirect Discharge of Huangjiu Wastewater, Effective December 1, 2026

The Shaoxing municipal government portal has published the Shaoxing Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment's official interpretation of the Trial Guideline on Negotiated Indirect Discharge of Huangjiu (Yellow Rice Wine) Industry Wastewater. The document was finalized on October 21, 2026 and released on October 26, 2026, with the Shaoxing Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment as the interpreting authority.

1. Background

To implement national and provincial pollution and carbon reduction directives, pursue precise, science-based and law-based pollution control, and balance ecological protection with high-quality development of the huangjiu industry, the guideline empowers green transformation of a traditional sector through coordinated pollution and carbon reduction. It does so by establishing a standing collaboration mechanism on carbon source utilization between huangjiu producers and wastewater treatment operators, advancing negotiated indirect discharge in a lawful and steady manner, tailored to the characteristics of Shaoxing's huangjiu industry and its actual wastewater treatment conditions.

2. Legal basis

• Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China;
• Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits;
• Implementation Plan for Synergistic Reduction of Pollution and Carbon Emissions (Huan Zong He [2022] No. 42);
• Notice on Further Regulating Environmental Management of Urban (Park) Wastewater Treatment (Huan Shui Ti [2020] No. 71);
• Discharge Standard of Water Pollutants for Alcoholic Beverage Manufacturing Industry (GB19821-2025).

3. Key questions

(1) Which huangjiu producers may apply for negotiated indirect discharge? The guideline applies to legally registered huangjiu producers within Shaoxing engaged in huangjiu production and processing — including brewing, fermentation and bottling — that generate and discharge related wastewater.

(2) Which situations are excluded? The following do not qualify:

• Wastewater classified as hazardous waste from huangjiu production, and emergency wastewater from accidents, remain subject to hazardous waste and environmental emergency rules and are excluded from negotiated indirect discharge;
• Where discharge may corrode or clog the sewer network, exceed the designed acceptance capacity of the centralized treatment facility, or where compliant effluent cannot be assured, negotiated indirect discharge is prohibited.

(3) How are discharge limits set, and can all pollutants be relaxed by negotiation? Limits are set and enforced strictly under the MEE Notice on Further Regulating Environmental Management of Urban (Park) Wastewater Treatment (Huan Shui Ti [2020] No. 71) and GB19821-2025:

• For specific water pollutants, concentration limits may be agreed through equal tripartite negotiation among the huangjiu producer, the wastewater treatment operator and the municipal sewer network operator; once verified by the ecology and environment authority, they are written into the pollutant discharge permit or the registration form filed on the national permit platform, serving as the enforceable basis for indirect discharge;
• All other water pollutants not specified in the negotiated discharge contract remain strictly subject to Table 1 of GB19821-2025 and may not be relaxed through negotiation.

4. Effective date

The Trial Guideline takes effect on December 1, 2026.