The last of forty illegal lime kilns in Ruzhou that caused heavy pollution for over a decade was dismantled last week.

The authorities had already issued many warning to the kilns to cease production, but they would ignore the warnings and resume work illegally-which also caused serious pollution to the environment and harmed people's health.

The city took the step of offering more than 20,000 yuan ($ 3,258.12) as a reward to owners of the kilns. In addition, the government has implemented regulations to encourage people to build energy saving and eco-friendly kilns - and five have already been set up.

The dismantling of these 40 kilns will allow the city to reduce emission amounting to 416 tons of sulfur dioxide, 8,800 tons of smoke and 720 tons of nitric oxide, and Ruzhou will also save about 80,000 tons of raw coal.