The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday that dioxin levels emitted from 20 incinerators that were found on Thursday to have been using substandard activated carbon were within legal standards.
EPA Inspector General Chang Hoang-jang (張晃彰) said that a preliminary investigation found that the amount of chemicals and metal compounds in the exhaust fumes of both private and public-owned incinerators posed no threat to local residents and had a “zero percent chance of exceeding legal limits.”
Chang was responding to media reports on Friday that two Pingtung-based companies had been supplying inferior quality activated carbon for use in incinerators for the past six years.
Activated carbon is used in filters to trap dangerous compounds.
Chang said that heat, rather than activated carbon, was the main factor in breaking down dioxins. He said that according to laboratory tests, dioxins are found to dissipate after two seconds of exposure to temperatures above 800ºC. EPA regulations state that incinerators must operate at temperatures between 900ºC and 1,100ºC.
Chang said activated carbon was used to prevent dissipated carbon from reforming in the atmosphere. However, he said that the chance of this happening and exceeding legal requirements was close to zero.
In response to concerns raised by residents, he said that the EPA was studying the possibility of doubling the amount of spot checks the agency conducts to twice a year and requiring incinerator operators to increase the frequency of maintenance tests.
“After compiling data on chemical fumes last year, we can see that some incinerators emit higher than average dioxin levels ... but all are still within legal limits,” Chang said.
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung City prosecutors said on Friday that three company officials from Li Jing Viscarb Co and Wel Han Environmental Industrial Co — both of which are suspected of selling substandard activated carbon — had been detained and charged with fraud, making false statements and violating the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法).
The three have maintained their innocence, pointing to test reports by the Industrial Technology Research Institute showing that the material they sold was above regulatory levels.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office has not yet asked for information from the EPA, Chang said.
However, it was possible that the companies had no prior knowledge that the activated carbon they sold was not up to specifications, Chang said, as no previous problems had been found with the two companies.
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