THE steel plants and cement factories scattered across China’s Shandong province have made it one of the most contaminated areas of the world’s biggest polluter. But for one company, that just makes the business climate better.ASL Masks says it turned out more than 100,000 face coverings last year, and aims to more than double that this year, as China struggles to shake off the toxic smog produced by its heavy industry.At ASL’s Dongliu facility, shabby buildings bearing faded signs from the 1980s exhorting "scientific innovation" are just visible through the haze — pollution levels were six times international standards during a visit to the factory.Dozens of middle-aged women wearing bright-blue hats and aprons worked in near silence, sliding air filters into holes in the plastic products before threading on straps and yellow buckles. "Smog is bad for the lungs. We all wear masks around here," says packager Chen Aimei.China is the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter and last year, a...
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