My apartment house is next to a small lumber yard in a small country town (ca. 40,000) not far from Tainan. Almost every morning the lumber yard burns a pile of scrap wood and the smoke naturally (prevailing wind) heads straight for my windows. This morning I asked the security office to complain to the lumber yard and was told that they have been spoken to many times over the past 5 years. Their response is that they have to burn their trash when it accumulates.
My question is about the legality of burning trash. Even if it is illegal, no one will force the lumber yard to stop unless the police are willing to enforce the law. Is there an island-wide statute that covers this kind of smoke pollution?
I suggest that you get together with your Chinese friends and write out a detailed complaint, and submit it to the Environmental Protection Administration.
“Their response is that they have to burn their trash when it accumulates” — They could have it hauled away, right?