【Environmental Case Discussion】11 people arrested for illegally disposing of hazardous waste; large amounts of such waste still piled up in the open

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　　Corporate pollution prompts villagers to stage sit-ins in protest. The Xintiandi Venous Industry Park was established in 2005 and is located within the industrial park of Jiangshan Town. It is 2.25 kilometers away from Songjiazekou, 5 kilometers away from Lijiazekou, and only 1 kilometer away from Shuangqiaocun. In 2006, it became the first national \"model ecological industrial park for venous industries\". Qingdao Xintiandi Solid Waste Comprehensive Disposal Co., Ltd. located within the industrial park (hereinafter referred to as “Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company”) is mainly engaged in the collection, transportation, comprehensive disposal, and utilization of hazardous waste, medical waste, and general industrial waste. 　　On June 18, 2016, the entrance to Xintiandi Intravenous Industry Park – an industrial park that had been in operation in the area for nearly a decade – was blocked by local villagers. 　　It is understood that since May this year, villagers from the surrounding areas have been gathering near the industrial park, and in June some of them staged sit-ins to protest against pollution caused by the Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company. On June 22, in response to public concerns, the Laixi Environmental Protection Bureau ordered the company to suspend operations for rectification; the company then sealed off 6 key areas related to the 3 incinerators as well as 18 storage facilities on its own. On July 9, the main person in charge of the company was detained on suspicion of environmental pollution. On July 17, through the efforts of various parties, all the villagers who had gathered there were evacuated. Peanut fields near the Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company. The local authorities stated in their explanation of how the issue was handled that the main complaints from the local residents were that Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company often emitted waste gases at night, affecting the villagers’ rest and health; some children aged 1 to 6 in the villages surrounding the company suffered from allergic skin diseases; and crops such as peanuts, corn, fruit trees, and greenery plants in the fields near the company experienced reduced yields and damage. The villagers believe that these issues are related to the pollution caused by this company, and they demand a thorough investigation into the causes as well as compensation from the company for the contamination of the farmland and the reduced yield of crops. 　　Lao Shi (a pseudonym) lives in Zekou Village, near the Xintiandi Venous Industry Park. Describing the circumstances that led to this situation, he said that the villagers had reported the pollution problems caused by Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company on many occasions, but those issues were never properly resolved. The pollution caused by enterprises has led to public dissatisfaction, with resentment building up over time. This summer, the villagers often smelled a strong, pungent odor coming from the direction of the factory, which disrupted their normal lives. Adding to this, the crops were damaged, yet the companies refused to admit fault or take responsibility, leaving the villagers without any compensation; angered by this, protests broke out. 　　Forced to comply despite difficulties, companies handle hazardous waste in violation of regulations. According to the local environmental protection agency, the medical waste disposal facility operated by Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company began trial operations in July 2005, and passed the acceptance inspection conducted by the Qingdao Environmental Protection Agency in April 2006. The hazardous waste disposal facility started trial operations in August 2008, and passed the acceptance inspection carried out by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in October 2010. Since 2010, the Shandong Provincial Environmental Protection Department and the Qingdao Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau have conducted inspections of the enterprise on multiple occasions, but the quarterly tests for wastewater and exhaust gases showed that none of the parameters exceeded the allowed limits. 　　However, according to the local reports on this incident, since 2012 the Laixi Environmental Protection Bureau has been receiving complaints from local villagers alleging environmental pollution issues at Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company; as a result, the company received two notices requiring it to make corrections within a specified time frame. Solid waste yet to be disposed of within the company’s premises. Villagers described the pollution at the time, saying that the nearby villages could all smell the pungent odor; \" whichever way the wind blew, that village would suffer.\" Local villagers also said that there are many people in Zekouji Village suffering from lung cancer and liver cancer, and many people experienced skin allergy symptoms this summer... However, the company has its own version of events; they claim that it’s not just New World that causes pollution through waste gas and wastewater – several nearby farms also produce strong odors and contaminate the water as well. 　　However, Lao Shi believes that the smell from the farm is minimal, and Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company cannot shirk its responsibility. When talking about the company’s illegal emissions, he said, “The factory often emits pollutants at night or on rainy days, causing pollution of the land.” ”However, he said he was not aware of the specific level of pollution. 　　“\"In the fields near the enterprises, many peanuts have empty shells, and the corn kernels are not as plump as they used to be,\" said a villager from Shuangqiao Village when talking about the pollution caused by Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company. 　　During an inspection conducted in 2015 by the East China Inspection Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, it was found that the company had numerous illegal issues regarding its operations and management. This is mainly manifested in the following: the process parameters of these enterprises do not meet the requirements set out in the \"Emission Control Standards for the Incineration of Hazardous Wastes\"; despite these non-compliant parameters, these enterprises still focus on economic benefits, handling hazardous wastes beyond their capacity and accepting such wastes beyond their limits. As of October 24, 2015, the company’s reports showed that more than 10,000 tons of industrial waste had been incinerated that year, exceeding the amount approved by the Environmental Protection Department, and the amount of hazardous waste received surpassed the limits permitted under its operating license by over 10,000 tons. The company stored tens of thousands of tons of hazardous waste illegally, and some of the hazardous waste stored in the open was improperly packaged; the area around the storage site had an unpleasant odor, posing significant environmental safety risks. In addition, the company was found to have falsified records related to waste disposal and to have poor management of its hazardous waste landfills. 　　According to the incident report, in June 2016, the East China Inspection Center ordered Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company to suspend operations and carry out rectifications for all its projects other than those related to medical waste. As early as September 2015, the Laixi Environmental Protection Bureau conducted a thorough inspection of the enterprise, filed 4 cases, and imposed fines of over 400,000 yuan. 　　According to public reports, Shandong Province launched a three-month environmental protection campaign from June to August this year, focusing on the prevention and control of pollution in the air, water, soil, and solid waste. The action plan calls for making full use of the role of news media in guiding public opinion and exercising social oversight, by publicly exposing a number of typical environmental violation cases with serious circumstances and severe nature. Any identified environmental violations should be promptly referred to the relevant competent authorities for thorough handling in accordance with the law, and those that constitute crimes should be handed over to judicial authorities so that criminal liability can be pursued as required by law. 　　At the beginning of August, Shandong Province **held a meeting to coordinate the special environmental protection campaign for 2016. The meeting identified some companies that failed to make adequate improvements, among which Qingdao Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company was prominently listed. Yao Yunhui, deputy director of the Shandong Provincial Environmental Protection Department, said at the meeting that the company had serious environmental violations; \"The public security authorities in Qingdao have fully launched an investigation and have arrested 11 suspects.\" Qingdao **has dispatched working groups to supervise enterprises in making thorough corrections and to investigate and address all of the enterprise’s issues». 　　Businesses have ceased operations, but villagers remain worried. According to our investigation team, New World Solid Waste Disposal Company has not resumed production since it was shut down in June. Regarding the follow-up actions regarding the company’s pollution issues, a staff member from the local environmental protection agency said that several individuals involved in the case, including the legal representative of Xintiandi Solid Waste Disposal Company, have been arrested. The company’s authorized representative is negotiating with another enterprise to carry out corrective measures, and is also actively working to ensure that these measures are implemented. 　　Regarding the skin allergy problems among the local villagers, the authorities stated that they had organized visits to the hospital for those villagers, and it was found that the skin allergies were mostly related to mosquito bites during the summer; by carrying out mosquito control measures, the situation has been brought under control. 　　According to the report on the handling of this incident, in response to the concerns raised by the local residents regarding damage to their crops, the authorities **developed a compensation plan; an initial compensation amount of 962,800 yuan has already been deposited into the accounts of 6 key villages. Speaking of compensation, Lao Shi said that he has received 500 yuan per mu as compensation. According to the plan, **on-site assessments of the damaged crops will be conducted again in the fall, and the compensation amount will be determined based on the yields of nearby crops and market prices, with compensation paid in accordance with the actual situation. Currently, the compensation process is still in progress. 　　From May to September, over a period of nearly 5 months, this matter remained a focus of local public opinion. When this matter is brought up again, the villagers are still concerned that the solid waste temporarily stored on the company’s premises could contaminate the arable land. Lao Shi clearly showed a hint of helplessness. “It’s the harvest season for corn and peanuts; the villagers are busy watering the fields and digging for peanuts, so they don’t have time to deal with this issue. The enterprises have also stopped operating, so we can only wait for further solutions.” Today, wild grasses are growing wildly in the ditch in front of the industrial park; even from outside the park, it can be seen that there is still a large amount of waste piled up inside the facility awaiting disposal……