Lawmakers yesterday approved only a small part of the budget proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because of controversies over its waste management policies.
The rest of the budget will be left with the legislature's standing committees for a final decision.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Last week, legislators failed to make a final decision on the budget because of criticism of Taiwan's waste management policies raised by anti-incinerator activists from about 120 environmental groups.
Yesterday, the Committee for Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare gave the EPA NT$1.3 billion for scientific research and administrative work. The committee left out NT$1.89 million for travel expenses and transportation stipends.
The remaining NT$7.56 billion, which is the budget for most of the EPA's major sections, including the NT$3.27 billion for building new waste incinerators, will face further review by the 12 standing committees.
The EPA has allocated NT$3.27 billion, or 36 percent of its total NT$9.12 billion budget, for building new incinerators next year.
Some additional money will be spent on managing related issues, including the establishment of landfills for residues from incinerators and examination of dioxin levels of emissions from large waste incinerators.
Since last Monday, activists have been lobbying the Legislative Yuan about waste management issues, helped by lawmakers with environmental concerns. Environmentalists argued that the EPA has wasted taxpayers' money on building unnecessary incinerators.
On the basis of the EPA's original estimates in the 1990s, 36 incinerators would have been capable of burning 30,400 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day by the end of next year. In March, the EPA canceled four incinerator projects, re-ducing the total capacity for treating waste by 3,250 tonnes per day.
Last year, residents generated 19,886 tonnes of household waste per day, which was less than the capacity -- 21,000 tonnes -- of 19 operational waste incinerators.
Activists held a press conference at the legislature yesterday to call for the incinerator budget to be frozen.
"Industrial waste accounts for 38 percent of total waste that is burned," said George Cheng (
Some residents from Taoyuan and Kaohsiung also complained that the EPA had failed to effectively manage small incinerators, causing air pollution.
Responding to the accusations, the EPA detailed the amount of waste that is burned, stressing that industrial waste accounts for only one-fifth of total burned waste. Officials said new incinerators were necessary because sending waste to other counties for treatment did not work.
Chen Jian-zhi (陳建志), director of the waste policy committee of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance, said that these issues should be resolved at the local level.
"If residents are well-informed about the impact made by waste incineration, the anti-incinerator movement will succeed," Chen said.
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