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Sign Up！Tell The Government That We Can Save the Beauty With a Responsible Approach to Zero Waste！

The following is the details of the petition:

At the moment, Large tracts of rarely seen geological features in Taiwan are on the brink of disappearance forever. Who is she? She is the badlands in southern Taiwan stretching from Longchi district, Tainan to Matou mountain, Kaohsiung. Those two areas were chosen as industrial waste landfill sites in two projects respectively. We will definitely lose such beautiful and biodiverse landscape if the two areas are going to become landfills. You may not be familiar with her stories, or not know there exists such a beautiful place until today. Let’s see what she had been through first :

Seems Barren actually Dynamic Wilderness :

About two decades ago, in order to solve problem of illegally discarding industrial waste, Taiwan’s government were going to construct three industrial waste processing centers on northern, central and southern part of Taiwan respectively. Unfortunately, Longchi badland area were chosen as part of south industrial waste processing center project because it seemed barren "in the official’s eyes". But is it really anything but vitality? According to field investigation by Tainan Community University, the badland area is home to many kinds of creatures like crab-eating mongoose, masked palm civet, pangolin, crested serpent-eagle, Spot-breated Scimitar Babbler, etc.

Aerial view（Photo credit: Tainan Community University）

Apart from biodiversity, the geological structure in the area isn’t suitable for landfill either. The designated landfill area is surrounded by six active faults, recognized by Central Geological Survey MOEA. Besides, there are a likely active fault called Longchuan, not recognized by Central Geological Survey yet, passing through the area. Several earthquake investigation reports also indicated that geological structure constituted by mudstone would exacerbate landscape deformation after earthquake. At the moment, the contractor is just one step away from development except for soil and water conservation work permit. Once it have the permit the biodiverse habitat will be swallowed by industrial waste.

A horse in thorny bamboo dancing with Yuen Chak Thick Crabs :

Which is the horse wearing thorny bamboo and dancing with Yuen Chak Thick Crabs? The neighbor of Longchi badland—Matou mountain, Located on the junction of Neimen, Qishan and Tianliao districts, Kaohsiung are rich in thorny bamboo. The thorny bamboo forest was once considered consequences of human activities while in reality it is a virgin forest 100 percent. One of the endemic crab species called Yuen Chak thick crabs had been founded climbing through thorny bamboo forest. Unfortunately, the isolated, serene piece of land had been picked as industrial waste landfill site and the fight against the plan had begun since then…...

While determining adequacy of a landfill site, there are two weighting factors: whether fault lines passing through and existence of underground water. Since the development company have picked the land, it have always argued that there is no underground water around here. Actually, locals have relied underground water for farming for a long time. Ecological expert also stated that appearance of Yuen Chak Thick Crabs indicates existence of underground water.

As a matter of fact, the sifters on monitoring wells set by the company, used to monitor the flow of underground water, were found not opened (underground water can’t flow into wells with sifters closed). It is very clear what it described in the environmental impact statement that no underground water is around was fabricated without evidence.

Matou mountain（Photo credit：resident in Tainan）

Besides underground water issue, this area is officially recognized as landslide-landslip geologically sensitive area, with several fault lines just nearby, which means Matou mountain is not suitable for landfill at all. The project is now held for second phase environmental impact assessment.

Why are Longchi badland and Matou mountain not suitable for industrial waste landfill?

Geologically inappropriate:

Longchi badland area just exactly on the range where landscape deformity was the most severe when Meinong Earthquake happened on Feb.6, 2016. Central Geological Survey MOEA concluded that geological structure mainly constituted by mudstone is the main reason landscape around here deformed so badly, and possibility of earthquake of similar magnitude in the future couldn’t be ruled out. The problem in matou mountain is the same. Matou mountain area is officially recognized as landslide-landslip geologically sensitive area. Active fault, Qishan fault line, and other non-active faults just about 2.8km east of matou mountain. These two area are really not suitable for landfill!

Biodiversity:

According to field investigation by Tainan Community University, locals in matou mountain and experts, Both longchi badland and matou mountain are home to many kinds of creatures like crab-eating mongoose, masked palm civet, pangolin, crested serpent-eagle, Spot-breated Scimitar Babbler, and Yuen Chak Thick Crabs in matou mountain specifically.

where should industrial waste go if it doesn’t belong here?

It is already 21st century, circular economy and zero waste have become irreversible trends across the world in terms of waste management. Taiwan's government has also regarded circular economy as principle of waste governance. Undeniably, before Industry go zero-waste or industrial waste are 100% recyclable, there is still demand for space accommodating industrial waste. What we should do is temporarily store the waste and re-utilize it when the market and technology are both mature, instead of burying it and forget.

In order to prevent temporarily stored waste from exposed to rain and sunlight, it should not be put in open space; to save the resources it takes to separate soil covering the waste, the waste doesn't need to be covered with soil layers . Therefore, the storage space should be indoor, and the waste should be enclosed in robust containers. The risk of environment being polluted encountering natural disasters or extreme weather is much lower with waste stored in this kind of facilities.

Last but not the least, where should this kind of storing facilities be located? Do we really need to destroy precious and beautiful natural resources to accommodate footprints induced by human activities? If the government look at the problem from a macro perspective, there are already many highly contaminated sites, high contamination potential regions and illegally waste dumping sites waited for restoration in Taiwan. The government should choose the best location among them and have thorough discussions with society, not destroy natural resources arbitrarily.

反對新設掩埋場 | No More Landfills

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