Sources with the city's environmental protection bureau said at a working meeting that the government aims to make Dalian, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, a fluorine-free city.

The local government released an order to accelerate the phasing out of chemicals that deplete the ozone sphere.

According to the notice, refrigeration facilities and air conditioners with chlorofluorocarbon materials as refrigerants are forbidden to be distributed or installed in the city.

And motor vehicles equipped with air conditioners using chlorofluorocarbon materials as refrigerants have been barred from being sold in Dalian from January 1, 2003, according to local government regulations.

The bureau officials said that a series of environmental protection measures will be introduced this year.

Over the next five years, Dalian will build five urban sewage-treatment facilities with second-class or better disposal capacities, on the heels of the five sewage-treatment units that have been set up in the past five years.

The city plans to further improve its garbage collection and disposal system. A modern garbage-disposal facility with a routine capacity of 2000 tons will be built in a densely populated area of the city.

In addition, the city plans to develop an overall ecological balance and protection program.

(China Daily January 9, 2003)