Residents of Hsinchu County and several environmentalists yesterday demanded that AU Optronics Corp (AUO) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes restore an area where the Siaoli River (霄裡溪) flows through the county’s Sinpu Township (新埔) and where wastewater from the two LCD manufacturers’ plants drained into the river.
A pipe-sealing ceremony is to be held today to mark the closing of the sewage discharge pipes and bring them into compliance with the zero-liquid-discharge requirement set by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in 2013.
The plants are in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), upstream of the Siaoli River, and have discharged wastewater into the river for 16 years.
In 2013, the EPA told the companies that their plants had to recycle all their wastewater by the end of this year after repeated protests by Sinpu residents over the pollution caused by the two companies’ factories.
It was the first time the government had imposed such a requirement on technology firms.
However, environmentalists said the zero-liquid-discharge plan should be just the first step for the two firms in terms of carrying out their corporate social responsibility.
They want the companies to restore the river to a pristine condition and track the health of local residents.
“The zero liquid discharge means the end of a source of pollution, but not the end of pollution. The companies should do restoration works so that the Siaoli River can be filled with fish again,” said Chen Hsin-yuan (陳新源), director of a Sinpu residents’ self-help organization.
The companies should ensure that indium and molybdenum, two metals commonly used in LCD manufacturing, are no longer found in the river, Chen said, adding that township residents are afraid to use groundwater in the area because of pollution concerns and they have called on the central government to provide tap water to the area.
“Legal compliance is not CSR [corporate social responsibility]. CSR should not be a corporate greenwash. If AUO really wants to be environmentally responsible, it should conduct health risk assessments and long-term health tracking at all its plants,” Environmental Jurist Association secretary-general Lin Jen-hui (林仁惠) said.
Pollution-related diseases can develop years after initial exposure, so the two companies should begin a long-term health monitoring and river restoration program, Hsinchu County Councilor Kao Wei-kai (高偉凱) said.
Zero liquid discharge could lead to the generation of other forms of pollutants, such as high concentration sludge, and the companies should make public their treatment of sludge and the chemicals used in their manufacturing processes, Kao said.
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