VietNamNet Bridge - The people in Ky Long ward in Ky Anh town of Ha Tinh province have unexpectedly found an additional hundreds of tons of waste originating from Taiwanese Formosa group’s steel plant at a private farm about 3 km from the plant.

According to Zing news, the landfill is located about 15 km to the south of Ky Anh town, about 1 km from National Highway 1A, and 3 km from Formosa Ha Tinh.

Along the entrance to the farm were scattered piles of trash dumped along the road. Going deep into the farm, reporters saw a landfill of about 2 hectares containing hundreds of tons of waste. This landfill is located within a farm owned by a local man. The huge piles of rubbish were in the middle of an acacia forest.

The waste was mainly household waste or construction waste without treatment. There were many boxes printed with Chinese characters. There were piles of dried black mud.

The man guarding the farm said that this is the land of Mr. Cao Nhan, who resides in Trai village, Ky Long ward, Ky Anh town.

"More than a year ago, many trucks carrying garbage of Formosa to this farm, at the agreement of Mr. Nhan," the guard said.

Nhan told Zing that his farm has an area of 16 hectares. Three years ago, a foreigner and a Vietnamese staff of Formosa asked to bring waste to this farm. As the rubbish included timber, iron and plastic boxes, which he could use, Nhan agreed.

"The garbage was dumped here more than 2 years ago. I do not know exactly about the weight and whether the rubbish is toxic or not,” Nhan said, adding that he took some oil drums from the waste, cleaned them and used them as water tanks or for other purposes.

The local authorities are inspecting the landfill.

In early July, Ha Tinh’s environmental police uncovered around 100 tonnes of waste dumped at a private farm run by Le Quang Hoa, director of Urban Environment Company in Ky Anh town. Samples tested at the Institute of Technology and Environment showed that the waste was toxic. Hoa said the waste were from Formosa.

In a letter sent on July 15 to many agencies including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Ha Tinh Province People's Committee, and the media, Formosa cited an article in its contract with the Urban Environment Company in Ky Anh Town saying the firm was responsible for transporting Formosa's muddy waste to a dump site approved by the Ha Tinh's Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The company also had sole responsibilty for the dumping process after taking waste out of Formosa Company.

Formosa also said that they had dumping approval from Ha Tinh's Department of Natural Resources and Environment and tests showed their waste was not toxic.

Thu Ly