Chuan
Lyu Lectures
Faculty of Oriental Studies
University of Cambridge
5:00PM, Thursday,
May 11, 2000
The Little Hall, Sidgwick Site
Subject: The Problem of Industrial
Pollution in Taiwan
Professor Ts'ui-jung Liu
Director, Institute of Taiwan History,
Preparatory Office
Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Introduction
Taiwan's
rapid industrial development since the 1960s has brought
an "economic miracle" to the island. However, the problem
of industrial pollution during this process of development
cannot be neglected. As a small island, the environmental
burden is comparatively heavy in Taiwan. The statistics
by the end of 1996 showed that Taiwan's population density
was 1.8 times Japan and 2.5 times England; Taiwan's
manufacturing factory density was 3.7 times Japan and
7.1 times England. The government started to tackle
the problem of pollution in 1974 by formally legislating
laws related to pollution prevention and control. The
Water Pollution Control Act was promulgated on July
11 and the Waste Disposal Act on July 26. About one
year later, on May 23, 1975, the Air Pollution Control
Act was instituted. This paper will try to discuss problems
related to industrial waste and wastewater in Taiwan.
1. The problem of enterprise waste
Authorities in charge of environmental protection and
industrial development are both responsible for the
control of enterprise waste. The environmental protection
authority plays the role of inspection and control while
the industrial development authority has the role of
providing technical and investment guidance.
1.1 The measures taken by the environmental protection
authority