A comparison of mill capacity in China with capacity in North America and Europe provides further perspective on the pollution management problem. Papermills in North American and Europe range from several hundred thousand to two million tons of annual capacity. In contrast, the capacity of the largest mill in China is only 250,000 tons and any mill over 30,000 tons is classified as “large”. China has more than one thousand state-owned and collective mills, and nine times as many other (private, or township and village enterprise) operations, almost all with capacities under ten thousand tons. China’s large number of mills.
