ESG Report 2025

The United Laboratories attaches great importance to wastewater management. Since 2007, the Group has built a sewage treatment station, which has been continuously expanded and renovated in line with production development needs, now covering a total area of 500 acres. Through the treatment process of “pretreatment + hydrolytic acidification + anaerobic system (UASB) + aerobic system (CASS) + contact oxidation (catalytic oxidation) + secondary sedimentation tank”, the sewage treatment station effectively treats various types of wastewater generated during production, including waste acid water, cloth-washing water, phenylacetic acid wastewater, crystalline mother liquor, circulating cooling water, and equipment cleaning water. The treated wastewater is then discharged to the reclaimed water reuse system for further treatment, achieving zero wastewater discharge. The sewage treatment station is operated by professional technicians, and the system has a designed treatment capacity of nearly 50,000 cubic metres per day. To further enhance wastewater treatment capacity and resource recovery, in 2022 the Group invested RMB 12 million to construct a new three-effect evaporation system with a treatment capacity of 300 tonnes per day, used to treat concentrated drainage water generated from the production processes of various workshops, thereby reducing the operating load of the sewage treatment system and stabilising the operation of the reclaimed water membrane system. At the same time, a new multi-functional high-efficiency mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) system was built as a backup facility to ensure the stable operation of the sewage treatment system and the reclaimed water reuse system. The Group has installed an online monitoring system for water pollutants, which closely monitors the concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH ₃ - N) in the wastewater treatment system, preventing groundwater pollution caused by “running, emitting, dropping and leakage” during wastewater treatment. During the Reporting Period, all wastewater discharge complied with national and local standards, and no discharge exceedance incidents occurred. 7.3.1 Wastewater treatment In the area of advanced wastewater treatment and resource utilisation, The United Laboratories continues to promote the high-concentration brine salt separation and acid-base recovery project, adopting the green production process technology of “nanofiltration for salt separation + membrane concentration + freeze crystallisation separation + bipolar membrane conversion of acid and base” to convert high-salt wastewater into dilute acid and dilute alkali for reuse in production. In 2025, the project treated 836,000 tonnes of high-concentration brine, recovered and reused 510,000 tonnes of water, and simultaneously reduced the stockpile of salt in the salt storage yard by approximately 20,000 tonnes, achieving full resource recycling. Since the project began operation, the separated acid and alkali have been returned to production for use, cumulatively reducing the external purchase of liquid caustic soda by 22,327 tonnes and sulphuric acid by 5,993 tonnes, delivering significant ecological and economic benefits. The self-produced dilute acid and dilute alkali system has achieved automated production, one-button start-up, online monitoring, and real-time alarming, operating stably and reliably. High-Concentration Brine Salt Separation and Acid-Base Recovery Project Various air pollutants may be generated during production, including malodorous exhaust gas from wastewater treatment, process exhaust gas, phenylacetic acid exhaust gas from fermentation and phenylacetic acid recovery, flue gas from coal-fired boilers and exhaust emissions from vehicle use. For different categories of exhaust gas, the Group has established corresponding treatment facilities and systems and continues to implement exhaust gas governance projects to ensure that all emissions meet national discharge requirements before release. The Group has established pollutant monitoring systems. In addition to installing automatic monitoring systems for relevant exhaust outlets, we also engage qualified third-party monitoring institutions to carry out regular source monitoring, so as to ensure compliance with requirements including the “Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Pharmaceutical Industry” (GB 37823-2019). During the Year, all exhaust gas outlets were monitored in accordance with the self-monitoring plan, all results were compliant with the standard, and no incidents of excessive gaseous emissions occurred. 7.3.2 Exhaust gas treatment While making prudent use of resources, The United Laboratories also focuses on reducing emissions and properly treating various forms of waste generated in production and daily operations. We strictly comply with laws and regulations relating to air pollution, water pollution and solid waste, and have established internal emissions management systems to manage and reduce emissions in a systematic manner and mitigate adverse environmental impacts. 7.3 Pollution Control and Treatment 47 The United Laboratories International Holdings Limited 2025 Environmental, Social and Governance Report