Lawmakers and environmental groups yesterday called for more stringent monitoring and control of industrial hazardous waste at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, saying that pollution has affected Taiwan’s food safety and people’s health.
The call came in the wake of the arrest and detention of three people in southern Taiwan who allegedly ran an industrial hazardous waste treatment operation, but were instead illegally dumping the waste in landfills or at unregulated sites.
“The illegal dumping has been a recurring problem, plaguing many municipalities and counties for many years, but government agencies do not have a good handle on the problem,” New Power Party Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
She demanded that agencies be proactive in inspecting and verify data from companies, the quantities of the hazardous wastes, where they came from and where they end up.
She also called for stricter inspections and setting up mechanisms to manage the problem.
Last year, there were 19.84 million tonnes of industrial waste in Taiwan, environmental groups said, citing results of an investigation.
That did not include “construction surplus of sand and gravel materials” and soil already deemed polluted, they said.
A report also indicated that 84 percent of industrial hazardous waste was only superficially treated and has turned up relabeled as a different product, they added.
Much of these materials were recycled and have found their way into farmlands, aquaculture ponds and other sites, which through years of accumulation have polluted the soil and water, endangering Taiwan’s food safety and public health, Chen said.
In the past five years, 869 cases of illegal dumping were uncovered by the Environmental Protection Administration, about one case per every 2.1 days, Chen said.
“In reality, there are much more that have not been discovered, and have not yet been investigated. The actual number and amount of waste are much, much more than those that have been reported,” Chen said.
Only 8 percent of landfill sites have been treated and cleaned, but 92 percent of them are still piled up with no follow-up work or cleaning, she added.
It is urgent to amend the laws, as local governments often cannot locate the source of the waste when uncovering illegal dumping sites, and are unable to issue fines, which often results in the waste remaining in place, Taiwan Watch Institute secretary-general Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖) said.
“Even in cases when the people responsible were found, the local authorities usually request the site be cleaned within a deadline, and only when this is not met, can they apply to seize property assets to offset the cleanup costs, but most of the time, those responsible had by then transferred their assets elsewhere, and local governmental agencies cannot go in to clean up, as they lack the budget,” Hsieh said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS