The city of Zhoushan recently implemented a new policy making it easier to obtain sewage discharge permits, the first of its kind in Zhejiang province.

"Under the new policy, it took only a little more than 10 days to get the discharge permit, saving us about a month in time," said a high-ranking employee at Zhoushan Daimei Auto Parts Co.

Daimei is the first company to benefit from the new policy in the city.

According to the city's bureau of ecology and environment, in the past, if a company wanted to apply for a sewage discharge permit, it first had to apply for an environmental impact assessment report issued by the local government, which could take as long as 40 days.

However, the new policy allows companies to apply for environmental impact assessment reports and sewage discharge permits at the same time.

In the future, the policy will become a common yardstick for companies and governments to be used to assess companies' influence on the environment, said an official at the bureau of ecology and environment.

The official added that the bureau will regularly inspect companies with sewage discharge permits in order to ensure the effectiveness of pollution control and reduce environmental risks.