VietNamNet Bridge – Since the expenses needed to treat hazardous waste are tens times higher than that to treat domestic waste, Urenco 10, an environment treatment company deceived people, treating hazardous waste as domestic waste.

When Urenco treated hazardous waste as domestic waste, it can pocket big sums of money, since there was a big gap between the expenditure for treating hazardous waste and the expenditure for treating domestic waste. The information has given the public a start: where has the hazardous waste – medical waste, which is considered the most dangerous waste and needs the strictest treatment procedures, gone?

When environmental company underhandedly disposed of hazardous waste

The Nam Son Waste Treatment Complex in Soc Son district in Hanoi is the biggest waste treatment place of the capital city. There are different areas designed for treating different kinds of waste. There are two basic kinds of waste – domestic waste and hazardous waste.

In general, the former waste is dumped with lime, so that the decomposition process occurs naturally. The total expenses for gathering and burying domestic waste are 170,000 dong per ton.

The latter waste is hazardous waste, including medical waste, industrial and construction waste. It costs 3-9 million dong to treat one ton of hazardous waste.

After a lot of efforts, the Hanoi Police on August 31, 2011, caught red-handed a truck of Urenco 10 attempting to throw five tons of hazardous industrial waste, which did not go through any treatment into the dumping ground reserved for domestic waste.

However, it was not the first time Urenco 10 threw industrial waste underhandedly. The trucks of the companies seized any opportunities to turn hazardous waste into domestic waste. As such, tens of tones of hazardous waste has been buried into the ground and will cause terrible consequences.

It is clear about the consequences the behavior of the company can bring to the environment and people, but it remains unclear about how much money Urenco has earned when committing the fraud, and who could pocket the money?

Where is medical waste?

According to Nang luong moi newspaper, the total waste volume that Urenco 10 needed to carry for treatment had reached 6000 tons by the end of 2009, and 5000 tons by 2010, most of which needed to be treated with incineration.

However, to date, September 2011, the incinerators, running at full capacity, still cannot treat all the volume of waste. The two pits containing solid waste are getting nearly full which need to be closed by the end of 2011.

Meanwhile, the equipments Urenco 10 has to treat waste, which were installed in 2002, have become backward, which cannot satisfy the current demand. This has led to the under-standard quality of treated waste

Though the volume of waste to be treated keeps increasing, and the treatment capacity remains unchanged, Urenco 10 still signs new contracts on collecting, carrying and treating industrial waste with partners.

Every day, Urenco 10 receives tens of tons of industrial and medical waste, while it cannot fully treat the huge volume. Where has the waste gone, then?

Nang luong moi said that every day, Urenco undertakes to treat 30-40 tons of hazardous waste, which comes from 77 hospitals, medical centers and other industrial workshops under the 500 contracts signed by the companies with the clients.

Le Trung Dung, Head of the Personnel Department of Urenco 10, admitted that the company committed a fraud, but he said the company only broke the business ethics, while it does not violate the laws.

Nang Luong Moi