China: an Important Market for Eijkelkamp

In less than a year, the Olympic Games 2008 will be held in Beijing, the capital of China. The theme ‘Green Olympics’ stands for environmental protection, nature conservation and maintenance of the ecological balance. These Olympic Games offer an excellent opportunity to get a message across in China. For the first time in years, both the central government and the local authorities have initiated plans and projects to protect the environment, in cooperation with Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment. One of the parties that works with Eijkelkamp is the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
SEPA is responsible for protecting the air, water and soil in China from pollution. SEPA reports directly to the Chinese Council of State and therefore has an influence on the environmental policy and is in a
position to negotiate environmental legislation and decrees. In addition to its regulatory role, SEPA finances and organises research and development.
The Dutch government also has major plans regarding working with SEPA. Two projects have already been implemented, together with the NWP
(Netherlands Water Partnership) and the NSP (Netherlands Soil Platform). This could herald a new era of cooperation between the Chinese and Dutch governments.
At a local level, Eijkelkamp works via distributors in China to support local environmental organisations in the execution of their tasks. In this edition of Geijkt Nieuws, we would like to introduce one of these local organisations to you, the Sichuan Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB). The EPB is based in the west of the mainland of China in the Sichuan province.
In cooperation with Techtrend International Ltd. (one of Eijkelkamp’s distributors) Eijkelkamp continues to supply on-site sampling equipment to the environmental department within the EPB. In recent years, the EPB has requested a large amount of equipment, for, for instance: Sediment sampling, Van Veen grabs are used to take mixed samples. The Beeker Sampler is used to take undisturbed samples.

Groundwater sampling
Submersible pump sets to take groundwater samples up to a maximum of eight metres depth.

Flowing sediment sampling.
The Watertrap is used for representative sampling in flowing water at various levels in lakes and rivers.

Soil sampling.
EPB purchased a wide range of soil sampling equipment to allow it to assess the soil composition at various depths After the equipment arrives at the EPB it is forwarded to the local control stations in the
provinces. There the equipment is used to tackle the problem of contamination. We supply not only the equipment, but we also instruct the users on how to use it optimally practice.
The head of the EPB maintains good contacts with Techtrend and has told them: “Eijkelkamp supplies not only high-quality equipment, but also good service”.
In addition to Sichuan, Eijkelkamp equipment is used in a large number of other Chinese provinces in the event of serious incidents and for sampling.
Eijkelkamp works closely with local distributors for the distribution of the equipment. Furthermore, Eijkelkamp invests in other ways in the Chinese market. For instance, a Chinese version of the Eijkelkamp website has recently come online, and various documents are also available in Chinese.