Twenty-six people are facing charges for illegally dumping industrial waste across five municipalities, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
A “criminal ring” of concrete processing firms and waste disposal operators allegedly dumped industrial waste at 11 locations in Taichung, as well as Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin and Miaoli counties, the agency said.
The waste was dumped at pits left open by illicit mining operations or on rented properties, it said, describing the act as “organized crime” aimed at profiteering.
Photo courtesy of the Environmental Protection Administration
After receiving intelligence last year, the Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office asked the EPA to track the records of the waste disposal operators and found that they had filed falsified records.
In July last year, prosecutors, police and environmental office personnel from the municipalities raided the companies’ plants, the EPA said.
An investigation found that three waste disposal companies did not properly handle the silt they had received from other companies, and sent it to three concrete processing plants in Miaoli, Changhua and Taichung, it said.
Some industrial waste can be converted into recyclable materials if properly processed, but the suspects did not follow the required procedures, EPA Bureau of Environmental Inspection Northern Branch Commander Shih Sheng-chun (施勝鈞) said.
The suspects told the owners of the rented properties that they would place agricultural fertilizer in the fields, but dumped industrial waste instead, the EPA said.
The illegally dumped waste totaled nearly 150,000m3, it said.
The suspects could face a prison term of one to five years or a fine of up to NT$15 million (US$499,484) for contravening the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), Shih said.
Water leaking from some of the waste disposal sites was found to contain up to 9.1 milligrams of nickel per liter (mg/L) of water, higher than the maximum allowed level of 1mg/L, contravening the Water Pollution Control Act (水污染防治法), he said.
Further investigation is needed to determine whether soil and groundwater at the 11 locations have been polluted, he said, adding that the suspects would be required to remove the waste from the sites after the judicial investigation is completed.
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