Crying foul over waste disposal policies they claim are both impractical and needlessly complicated, hampering their efforts to apply for landfill permits, waste handlers yesterday called for urgent revisions to be made to related laws.
At a public hearing held by KMT legislator Chang Tsai-mei (
"We are discouraged by the complicated and inefficient administration process for landfill applications currently supervised by local governments," said Robert Lee (
"Applications involve too many administrative units, including those supervising land administration, water resources, land protection, and others," Lee said, adding that it takes years to legalize even existing, operating landfills.
"Sometimes waste handlers are asked by local governments, based on administrative commands, to deposit a certain amount of money, for example NT$50 million, to ensure the safety of the environment [at the site]," Lee said, adding that the deposit varied from location to location.
"Local factions pursuing different interests also make things more difficult," said Lee, adding that they sometimes "help" local governments to make decisions.
Lee cited the example of a waste handler who applied to build a landfill that would cover 22 hectares of land in Miaoli County. The application, which proposed reclassifying forest land as construction land, has been held up for six years.
"So far, the investor has spent at least NT$16 million on the application process," Lee said.
Responding to a request to establish a special unit to deal with applications proposed by waste handlers, EPA officials attending the public hearing said that it could take time to revise related laws.
"We will organize a meeting of environmental protection agencies in local governments to consider the possibility," said Ho Shun-chin (何舜琴), deputy director of the EPA's Bureau of Solid Waste Control.
However, Ho said that reconciliation between landfill builders and local residents should be established by negotiation rather than regulation.
Lee told the Taipei Times that the Waste Disposal Act, revised last year, has made their life tougher, but that related measures that would make the law more complete were still missing.
"Waste handlers can be arrested and punished if caught dumping waste illegally. But the EPA has never come up with solutions for problems caused by accumulated industrial waste in factory sites or regular garbage stored in illegal landfills," Lee said.
He also said that since the Waste Disposal Act revisions were made, the few illegal dumping cases that had been brought to light were "just the tip of the iceberg."
"Environmental problems caused by hazardous industrial waste should be better addressed. Because only one company has been legally permitted to treat this kind of waste, only about 5 percent of it is ever properly managed," Lee said.
Taiwan generates 8 million tonnes of domestic garbage annually, as well as 18 million tons of industrial waste, Lee said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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