Politics of Toxic Waste: Mobilising Lay Expertise against Illegal Dumping in Taiwan

• In Event: Governing Toxic Waste 2

Abstract

Illegal dumping of industrial waste has increased in Taiwan in recent years. This paper uses a new political sociology of science (NPSS) framework to explore the interplay of rules, networks, power, the science of waste circulation, and the results of local residents’ fights against illegal dumping. A case of toxic waste on farmland in Chishang Township in Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan, is used to analyse complex relationships between governmental agencies and corporations. Additionally, this paper examines the mutually reinforcing interactions between regulatory policies and economic production and the resulting environmental victimisation. The research methods used are documentary analysis and in-depth interview. Competing knowledge claims among various actors are evaluated, as well as how differences in these individuals’ social locations and social contexts affect their ideas of waste. Local residents found malodorous waste dumped on the abandoned farmland and numerous dead creatures, but the Environmental Protection Bureau of Kaohsiung City claimed that soil testing revealed no pollution. Civic groups expressed a suspicion that the government officials set their testing devices too far away from the dumping site and that their results were, therefore, inaccurate. Technicians from the Council of Agriculture tested the water quality and found that it was alkaline. They also discovered that the soil did not meet heavy metal pollution control standards. An implicated firm claimed that they were disposing ‘products’ made of recyclable and reusable waste materials. The firm argued that these ‘products’ do not pollute the environment and therefore did not need to be disposed according to the regulations outlined in the Waste Disposal Act. Local residents and civic organisations mobilised because of the environmental harm caused and sued the firm. The verdict identified that the materials dumped on the farmland were ‘waste’. According to this verdict, the government bears the responsibility to ask the firm to remove the waste within a limited time. This case reveals problems resulting from flawed power structures, asymmetric resource distribution, and institutional policy failure. It also highlights the importance of local knowledge and citizen activism in toxic waste management.

Author

• Mei-Fang Fan, Institute of Science, Technology and Society, National Yang-Ming University