Formosa waste dumped in Thien Cam

Thien Cam town police, Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province once made a record of a truck carrying waste from Formosa dumped at Thien Cam landfill.

Mr. Hoang Ba Vy - Deputy Chief of Thien Cam Town Police said that at noon on May 20, 2015, people reported that a truck carrying waste of unknown origin was dumped into Thien Cam landfill.

Formosa waste in Thien Cam, after 1 year, is still intact and not treated.

The town police then caught the truck with license plate 38C-039.80 driven by Tran Huy Thuan (residing in Cam Huy commune) dumping waste from the truck into the landfill. The waste was black in color and of unknown origin.

At the town police headquarters, driver Thuan said that on the morning of May 20, he went to Hoang Huy Giang's house (vehicle owner, residing in Thien Cam town) to take a truck to Vung Ang economic zone to transport waste to Thien Cam landfill.

"I didn't know what kind of mud it was. Until I was arrested by the police, my car had made three trips," Thuan said.

Working with the police, Hoang Huy Giang said that his car was hired by Nguyen Quang Ha (Deputy Head of Thien Cam Marine Ecological Service Cooperative) to transport mud to Ky Anh, at a price of 1,600,000 VND/trip.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Ha confirmed that he hired Mr. Giang's truck to go to Vung Ang economic zone (belonging to Formosa Ha Tinh group) to transport mud cakes to Thien Cam landfill for processing.

According to Mr. Hoang Ba Vy, after making a record, Thien Cam town reported the incident to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Cam Xuyen district. Currently, the waste transported from Formosa is still kept at Thien Cam landfill.

The person who discovered the truck, Mr. Hoang Ba Tinh (born in 1958, residing in Hong Hoa village, Thien Cam town) said that since April 2015, every 12 noon he saw a strange truck carrying sludge waste to dump at the landfill.

Mr. Hoang Ba Tinh, a resident, discovered the dumping of waste from Formosa at Thien Cam tourist area.

This waste has a very foul smell, is sticky, and is packed into cakes. When Mr. Tinh asked, the driver said it was mud dredged from the sewer under Thien Cam tourist area.

"I knew it wasn't true from what the driver said, because the mud in the sewers in tourist areas is always mixed with trash and sticks, but here I only saw mud and it was very smooth," Mr. Tinh said.

"I told the driver not to carry foreign substances into the landfill, but he said it was not my duty, so I kept quiet."

In the following days, many trucks continuously transported waste to the landfill, but after dumping it, they turned around and left immediately, so Mr. Tinh did not have time to report it to the authorities.

At noon on May 20, when he discovered a truck entering the landfill to dump waste, the truck was in the middle of the landfill and could not get out, Mr. Tinh immediately reported it to the authorities and caught it red-handed.

On the afternoon of July 13, leading us to the waste dumping areas, Mr. Tinh said there were 3 locations where no less than 15 trucks of soil were dumped into the landfill.

Pointing to a piece of land transported from Formosa, Mr. Tinh said the soil was black like mud, very sticky, and had been exposed to the trash for over a year but still not dry. At a waste dumping site, the plants and trees were burned to death, the dug up soil gave off a foul smell, and no living creatures survived.

If dangerous, will sue Formosa

Mr. Nguyen Quang Ha - Deputy Head of the Cooperative confirmed that in May 2015, he personally hired a truck to Formosa to transport waste to Thien Cam landfill.

When entering Formosa, he was taken to the domestic wastewater treatment area. At the same time, a Formosa representative provided a document from the Ha Tinh Environmental Protection Department confirming that the sludge from the wastewater treatment plant was not hazardous, so he agreed to transport it to the landfill for treatment.

"Because it was just a trial, all the contracts were oral. The cooperative and Formosa had not signed any other documents. During the trial period, we had only transported mud from Formosa to the landfill three times before being discovered by the authorities and asked to stop."

The waste is black like mud, very sticky, and can be left in the landfill for a year without drying.

According to Mr. Ha, the 3 trucks of sludge that the Cooperative directly took from Formosa to dump at the landfill weighed about 15 tons. For each trip, Formosa paid the Cooperative 2.8 million VND. The sludge waste was transported to the landfill, then treated by burial.

"Seeing with my own eyes the sludge waste taken from the domestic wastewater treatment tank, I confirm that the above waste is not harmful to the environment. If this waste is tested and found to be toxic, we will immediately sue Formosa," said Mr. Ha.

A leader of the Ha Tinh Economic Zone Management Board informed that at the time of May 2015, there was no factory operating at Formosa, so the waste was domestic sludge, not industrial waste.

According to Vietnamnet.vn