Thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste have been treated improperly by a private company operating in waste treatment in southern Dong Nai Province, according to the local authorities.
The province discovered that the Tan Phat Tai Company Ltd was operating outside of the functions for which it had been registered.
The company improperly treated 7,200 tonnes of hazardous waste, including 1,000 tonnes of waste on the government’s list of prohibited waste that can only be treated by certain companies.
The company also solidified 6,200 tonnes of waste, though it had not registered to do such work.
The company was licensed by the province’s Department of Planning and Investment to trade in recycled waste, transport of waste and treatment of industrial solid waste.
Authorities also discovered that the company had gathered larger volumes of waste than its warehousing capacity, leading to an overflow of waste that polluted a canal near the company’s warehouses. Moreover, the company had to rent a warehouse to store 1,000 tonnes of waste that was gathered from the company’s customers, a violation of waste treatment regulations.
The provincial People’s Committee late last year fined the company for the violations.
However, it could not stop the company from operations since the company had received a licence from the Environment Protection Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The licence enabled the company to gather nearly 17,000 tonnes over the last three years, despite its low warehousing capacity.
In April, the provincial People’s Committee sent a petition to the Prime Minister, requesting that the company cease operations.
Following that request, Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai in May asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to work with the Dong Nai People’s Committee. However, no inspection of the company has been conducted yet, according to Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper.
