A policeman checks medical waste. [Photo by Wu Rui/CCTV News]

Enacted in 2003, the regulation on the management of medical waste stipulates that unauthorized individuals and organizations are strictly forbidden from selling or buying medical waste.

The illegal recycling and distribution of medical waste in Central China's Hunan province, however, suggests that a large proportion of medical waste is not being disposed of properly. The underground exchange network for medical waste even extends to manufacturers that rake in illegal profits by making plastic products from the waste.

In Hunan, considerable medical waste was shipped to a reclusive house in a village before the dirty business was reported to the police. A daunting truth is that some rural areas have become a headquarters for not just illegal medical waste recycling but also other shady businesses such as the production of fake condiments.

Following the urban expansion and the intensified efforts to clamp down on illegal manufacturing, owners of unauthorized workshops have moved from the outskirts of major cities to remote villages, where they can restart their business more easily by pulling some strings. That explains why some of them have little fear of supervision.

The real danger is the compromised rural governance, as some governments at the county level are willing to take the risk of accommodating unauthorized workshops to pursue economic growth.