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MERCURY-TAINTED SLUDGE TO BE SHIPPED BACK

China News Agency

TAIPEI, Taiwan, 15 September 1999 --A total of 4,400 tons of mercy-tainted sludge created by plastics giant Formosa Plastics will come full circle and be shipped back to the plant where is was produced in Kaohsiung.

The Environmental Protection Administration approved on Wednesday Formosa's plan to store the waste in its plant in Jenwu, Kaohsiung County after a painstaking but fruitless hunt for dumping grounds.

The sludge, waste resulting from the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), was shipped back from Cambodia in March after international attention was drawn to its abandonment at the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia at the end of 1998.

It caused panic and riots among Sihanoukville residents due to its toxic nature.

Formosa has approached foreign waste disposal companies in a fruitless attempts to seek a permanent overseas dumping site for the sludge since the incident in Cambodia came to light.

Environmentalists' blockage of transport of industrial waste, not to mention storage, in foreign countries has scuttled Formosa's attempt to transfer it to its plant in Texas, in the United States.

The sludge, contained in 376 containers, has been kept in Kaohsiung Harbor since being shipped back from Cambodia in March.

After exhausting all options, Formosa decided to keep it at its Jenwu plant where it was created.

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