Environmental activists yesterday urged the government not to exclude scrap metal, including electrical and electronics equipment, from its definition of hazardous industrial waste, as this would allow its import into Taiwan.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is considering amending the Standards for Defining Hazardous Industrial Waste (有害事業廢棄物認定標準) to exclude 12 types of scrap metal — including wires, computers, household electronics, telecom products and printed circuit boards — and redefine them as general industrial waste, which are not banned from import into the nation, environmental advocates said.
Showing photographs taken years ago of waste circuit boards and wires piled up along the banks of the Erjen River (二仁溪), with hundreds of fish lying dead on sections of the river bank, the groups said they fear that once the standards are amended, the public would see a repetition of those horrific scenes of rivers polluted by toxic chemicals across the nation.
Photo: CNA
Homemakers United Foundation president Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) said 1,800 tonnes of domestic industrial waste are created each year, and while the EPA claims a high recycling rate of 82 percent, many toxic substances, such as furnace slag ashes, remain and pollute the environment.
“Don’t we have enough domestic industrial waste to worry about?” Chen asked.
“The public is now worried about the safety of adulterated edible oil products, but the pollution from recycling these scrap metals may affect an even bigger portion of our living environment,” she said.
Tainan Community University Research and Development Association director Huang Huan-chang (黃煥彰) said since the early 1970s, the scrap metal recycling industry by the Erjen River has already caused irreversible heavy pollution to the air, water and soil, from the burning of plastic parts and pickling metal with strong liquid acid to extract precious metals.
He said that the high level of dioxins in the air and heavy metal contamination in the water and soil near the Erjen River led a Canadian researcher to define the area as “unsuitable for living” in 1983. The pollution was finally halted by the government, which spent up to NT$4.2 billion (US$142.5 million) for river remediation over the past two to three decades.
Taiwan Watch Institute director Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖) said many of the waste electronic products contain brominated flame retardant, which may release highly toxic polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans when burned and are endocrine disrupting chemicals that may affect the brain.
“The main objective of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is to restrict transboundary movements of hazardous wastes,” Huang said.
“Taiwan is a small island that cannot afford to become a hazardous waste treatment center for other countries,” Huang said.
In response, EPA Department of Waste Management director Wu Tien-chi (吳天基) said that while the nation lacks resources, it is an electronics export-oriented economy.
To vertically integrate the industry from manufacturing to consumption to recycling, the EPA is considering allowing the import of scrap metal to aid the development of the recycling industry.
Recycling companies will be required to report their treatment process, and the remaining waste substances will be disposed of using legal facilities, he added.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS