space Press Releases, News Stories

TAIWAN FIRM TO SHIP MERCURY WASTE TO US OR EUROPE

by LAWRENCE CHUNG, Reuters

TAIPEI, Taiwan, 3 January 1999 -- (Reuters) Taiwan industrial giant Formosa Plastics Corp said on Sunday that it planned to ship some 3,000 tonnes of mercury-laced industrial waste dumped in southern Cambodia to the United States or Europe for disposal.

''We plan to ship the waste out of Cambodia to either the United States or Europe where disposal technology is sophisticated,'' Lee Chih-tsun, president of Formosa Plastics, said in a news conference in Taipei.

Lee said his company was approaching the United States and European countries about taking the waste, but no location had been finalised because of the New Year's holiday.

Lee asked Cambodia authorities to give the company more time to ship out the waste.

Formosa Plastics' disposal of the waste, which Cambodia authorities have said was mercury-tainted, caused an uproar in the country and the government demanded the firm ship the waste back to Taiwan.

Formosa had the waste shipped to Cambodia in late November and it was dumped in the port of Sihanoukville.

News of the waste sparked riots in Sihanoukville in which one person was killed as protesters sacked offices of local officials they blamed for allowing its import. Four others died in a panicked exodus of more than 10,000 residents fearing contamination.

Formosa Plastics first insisted that the waste was not toxic, but later said some might slightly exceed the safety standard, and that it needed to collect some samples for verification.

The company on Thursday sent a team, led by lawmaker Tseng Cheng-nung who had close relations with Cambodia, to Phnom Penh to try to collect some waste samples.

But Cambodia officials refused to let the group collect samples, saying that team members had failed to wear protective clothing.

Tseng later held two rounds of talks with the Cambodia authorities, which finally agreed to allow the company to ship the waste to a third country.

Tseng also said on Sunday that Cambodia had agreed not to claim compensation nor demand a further apology from the company.

Formosa Plastics chairman Wang Yung-ching had already sent a letter of apology to Cambodia.

''They wanted to resolve the dispute in a civilised and agreeable manner,'' Tseng said, adding that the Cambodia government asked that the waste be shipped out within a month.

Lee said it would take more than a month to ship the waste out of Cambodia due to paperwork and other preparatory procedures.

''It would take at least 75 days for the necessary arrangement to ship the waste to the United States or 135 days to ship the toxic waste to Europe,'' Lee said.

Tseng said he and Lee would head to Cambodia within five days to negotiate handling details and seek more time to ship out the waste.

Taipei has no diplomatic ties with Phnom Penh.

Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration said samples brought back by environmentalists had tested slightly above safe standards for mercury contamination and urged Formosa to retrieve the shipment.

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
More News