space Press Releases, News Stories

by Chiu Yu-Tzu, TAIPEI TIMES

That is the question everyone has been asking of Formoso Plastics Group (FPG) officials in the past few days, referring to the massive containment of mercury-tainted waste currently sitting in Kaohsiung Harbor awaiting relocation.

The answers to the question have conflicted depending on which official is asked.

Yesterday's answer--in which an FPG spokesman said that a contingency plan was underway to deal with expected local opposition should the company decide to keep the waste on the island _ proved that the company does not yet know what it will do, but is desperately pursuing both options so to be rid of the waste once and for all.

In their way, of course, are environmentalists and concerned residents both at home and overseas.

The mercury-tainted waste, originally from an FPG chemical plant in Kaohsiung County, was discovered last December illegally dumped in Cambodia, and the company was forced under international pressure to take it back.

Taiwan's EPA originally rejected an application for the re-importation of the goods in April, citing laws banning the import of such materials.

Although the waste _ some 4,000 tons _ was eventually allowed to be placed into temporary storage at Kaohsiung Harbor, it was on the condition that it would eventually be taken out of the country again.

But that has not happened. Two attempts to have the waste taken to the US in the past several months fell through after EPA authorities there, as well as environmental groups, opposed the plan.

On August 5, the waste was given another 45-day extension, and Formosa is reportedly making new efforts to look for overseas disposal sites.

Now, company officials say that they plan to make contact with local residents in Mailiao township in Yunlin County to discuss the possibility of disposing the goods there.

Formosa Plastics spokesman Lin Sheng-kuan said yesterday that a communication strategy would be adopted in a few weeks.

The plan was announced despite residents protests against the waste in Mailiao last Friday.

"We will make efforts to communicate with local residents in Mailiao to get their support, if a final decision was to ship the waste there," said Lin.

Even if it does win support from local residents in Mailiao, however, re-importing the waste this time might not be as easy as it was when exporting it to Cambodia last November.

"The shipment to Mailiao would violate statutes governing industry upgrades. Mailiao's port facilities are part of an industrial park, so it is not allowed to import or export goods not produced or needed by the park, such as mercury-contaminated waste," said Shieh Jyh-Cherng, engineering professor from National Taiwan University and a member from Taiwan Environment Protection Union.

But those laws, say US-based environmentalists, violate the spirit of the Basel Convention, initiated in response to numerous international scandals regarding hazardous waste trafficking in the late 1980s.

Jim Puckett, from the Basel Action Network, which last succeeded in halting an FPG waste shipment to the US, said that it was simply unacceptable that the Taiwan government not allow the re-importation of the waste in question.

"Taiwan says that despite not being a party to the Basel Convention, they will abide by it. The international agreements of the Basel Convention state that it is the duty of the exporting state to reimport illegally shipped hazardous wastes," explained Puckett.

But he also suggested residents of Mailiao should not be forced to have the waste dumped on them.

"FPG should not subject other communities and peoples in Taiwan or elsewhere to this poison. They alone must bear responsibility for safely storing this waste at their own corporate site, and they should employ the best available technologies to contain, neutralize and store this waste," added Puckett.

As for FPG's plan A _ shipping the waste to other countries _ Lin refused to comment but did say that the media was partly to blame for the previous failure of waste shipments to the US.

"All you media are troublemakers," Lin said. He added that any further news leaks would further frustrate attempts to move the waste.

Local environmental groups have also been targeted by FPG.

Although the company announced plans on August 4 to visit local groups such as the Formosa Green Group and the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation (EQFF), the response has been lukewarm.

"I would rather see a sound waste management procedure in Taiwan established, rather than just solving FPG's 375 cargo containers of mercury-contaminated waste in Kaohsiung Port only," said Eric Liou, secretary general of the EQFF.

Liou also urged PFG to clean 6,000 tons of similar mercury-contaminated waste. now dumped illegally in Pingtung County.

Puckett pointed to another solution. "The answer to such crises are not found through export, but rather through prevention and containment of existent wastes at the point of their generation. Taiwan and FPG must take all the necessary steps to prevent hazardous wastes from being generated in the first place"