by Chiu Yu-Tzu, Taipei Times

Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) plans to move its notorious mercury-tainted waste -- currently in temporary storage at Kaohsiung Harbor -- to a factory site in Kaohsiung County when treatment facilities are ready in June, the company's chairman said yesterday.

Yesterday was Wang Yung-ching's first clear public announcement on the issue since FPG's deadly waste was discovered near Sihanoukville, Cambodia, in November 1998.

After several mysterious deaths in Sihanoukville were reported, the World Health Organization performed tests and found that mercury in the waste far exceeded allowable levels.

Since then, environmentalists have criticized the way FPG has handled the scandal, saying the toxic waste should never have been shipped to a developing country in the first place.

The 4,400 tonnes of toxic waste were returned to Kaohsiung Harbor under pressure from the international community in April last year. Due to strong local opposition against keeping the waste in Taiwan, FPG tried to ship it to other countries, including the US, France and Germany. However, opposition in those countries scuttled the attempts.

This has forced the Environmental Protection Administration on several occasions to extend the deadline for removing the waste from Kaohsiung Harbor. The most recent deadline was set for the end of this year.

At an annual meeting of FPG shareholders, held yesterday in Taipei, Wang said that he wanted to import the waste and treat it at the company's treatment facility in Jenwu, Kaohsiung County. However, he said he was disappointed that the decision had not garnered support from the county government or residents.

Wang spent 20 minutes explaining what he called the "disgusting" political and business environment in Taiwan.

"Residents, representatives, and officials from local government all ask for compensation. This is the environment in Taiwan [for industry]. What a sorrow," Wang said, visibly angry.

The FPG head said that if his company is able to get an import permit from the Kaohsiung County government, the waste would be treated with advanced heat-recovery technology. Wang added that the company has purchased the necessary treatment equipment from the US.

Wang appeared agitated by questions from environmentalists regarding the controversial waste.

Speaking as representatives for stockholders, environmentalists questioned company officials about expenditure information they said was missing from FPG's annual report.

"In the report, we don't see any information regarding the cost of managing the controversial waste," said Pan Han-chiang a stockholder representative and a Taiwan Green Party member.

Pan said FPG should not have concealed information regarding a fine of NT$50 million for its failure to remove the waste from Kaohsiung Harbor last April.

"Who can assure us the waste will be promptly moved?" said Joyce Fu, another stockholder representative and the secretary-general of the Green Formosa Front (GFF).

"In addition, you cannot leave out in the report the potential costs for three ongoing lawsuits regarding the waste. This threatens shareholders' interests," Fu said.

Environmentalists attended the annual meeting as representatives of shareholders in order to highlight what they said was FPG's consistent reluctance to release information related to the waste.

GFF members, whose purpose is the monitoring of hazardous industrial waste generated by Taiwan's firms, went to Cambodia at the end of 1998 when the illegal dumping was discovered.

The members worked with foreign environmental groups to urge FPG to follow the spirit of international environmental treaties -- such as the Basel Convention -- in dealing with the issue.

"Our goal is to force industrial companies to take environmental factors into account," said Wu Tung-Jye GFF chairman.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was initiated in 1989 in response to numerous international scandals regarding hazardous waste trafficking that began occurring in the late 1980s. Taiwan is not a signatory to the Basel Convention.