Illegal disposal of hazardous waste under probe after public complaints

Authorities of Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Qinghai province, have established an investigative team to examine a reported case involving illegal disposal of a large quantity of hazardous waste in a mine.

The move came soon after the Economic Information Daily reported early on Friday that Qinghai Chaidamu Xinghua Lithium Salt Co Ltd hastily relocated a large quantity of hazardous waste it had concealed to another site for burial.

Based on interviews with people participating in the transfer work, the media outlet estimated that almost 10,000 metric tons of hazardous waste had been relocated.

Quoting 2023 information from the Haixi environmental watchdog, the report said hazardous waste generated in the company included used organic solvents and spent activated carbon.

With the help of more than a dozen trucks, the transfer operation lasted consistently for almost a whole day and night starting on Thursday morning, following an order from local authorities to rectify its waste concealing violations before the arrival of inspectors from the country's high-profile central environmental inspection.

The order came after authorities got public complaints about the company's illegal acts, it added.

The investigative team has headed to the site, and personnel with expertise on chemical substances have been dispatched to conduct environmental testing, a release from Haixi authorities said.

The release stressed that local authorities will take follow-up action in accordance with the verification and test results, in strict compliance with laws and regulations.

Teams with the central environmental inspection, which officially launched in 2016 after being piloted between late 2015 and February 2016, are typically headed by ministerial-level officials.

The high-profile inspection has seen a large number of environmental violations unearthed, many of which happened thanks to public complaints. No matter where the inspection teams go, they first make their contact information public in order to seek clues of environmental violations from the public.