Ecological recovery company delivers greener future

Cheng Guang, board chairman of Shanxi-based Miaobaobao Environmental Technology, received a letter from the governor of South Gobi Province of Mongolia on June 6, asking the company to arrange a tour of the province for collaborations in ecological repair.

South Gobi is a southern Mongolian province that has faced severe desertification in recent years. Local authorities are making efforts to address the challenge by repairing the ecology through growing grasses and trees.

Miaobaobao was recommended to the South Gobi government by diplomats at the Mongolian embassy in Beijing earlier last year, after hearing that the company's greening solution has been widely used in China's arid regions for combating desertification, according to Cheng.

"With the help of the Mongolian embassy, we have held several talks with officials in South Gobi since the beginning of this year," Cheng said. "We have reached the intention for cooperation after the talks."

If a cooperation agreement can be signed, this will signify a milestone for the company's global operations, Cheng said.

According to the executive, Miaobaobao's solution for ecological recovery is simple and effective. And this simplicity and effectiveness make it possible for the solution to be adopted in many regions in China.

He said the solution involves the production of seedling containers like pots from crop stalks and the use of the containers as cultivation bases for plant seedlings.

"We only need to put the seedling-cultivating pots in the soil," Cheng said. "Seedlings in the pots can grow better than those directly planted in the soil."

He explained that the pots can help to retain water or moisture, while also helping seedling roots breathe with their good air permeability. He added that the biobased pot is also a kind of nutrition for the plants before it is totally degraded.

Miaobaobao's solution has been used in many ecological repair projects in China.

One example is the greening project in the Xishan area in the Shanxi provincial capital of Taiyuan.

Xishan used to be a coal-mining site, with the ecological environment severely damaged by coal-cutting and randomly abandoned coal refuses.

"It is almost impossible for plant seedlings to grow in an area filled with stones and coal gangues," Cheng said. "But the problem was solved with our seedling pots."

The project was launched in 2013. And nine years later, the pine seedlings have grown into a forest.

Other successful cases have also been reported in the desert in Ejine Banner in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and a number of deserted mining sites in Shanxi and the rest of the country.

"We have developed a range of patented seedling-cultivating containers to suit various natural conditions," Cheng said. "In arid areas like deserts, for instance, we use seedling-cultivating pipes to help the roots reach the depth of the soil."

Cheng said Miaobaobao also brings other environmental benefits.

One of the benefits is the recycling of crop stalks.

"It is a common practice in rural China to burn stalks after harvest," Cheng said. "This can lead to severe air pollution."

Now the company purchases crop stalks for its production, offering another source of income to farmers, Cheng said.