Chinese businesses now must determine how to dispose of food tainted with melamine. Although the government has told companies how to dispose of the tainted milk, some of it has been dumped in local rivers raising fears about tainting the water supply:
On Sunday, a waste disposal company in the Baiyun district of Guangzhou used a compactor to dispose of 18 tons of milk, 6 tons of which spilled into the local river… the disposal firm will be fined up to 200,000 yuan ($29,000) for its irresponsible behavior, [Zheng Zhewen, director of the Guangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau] said.
“We will investigate not only the disposal company but also the people who hired it to dispose of their recalled milk,” he said.
Only three companies have the qualifications and equipment necessary to dispose of the tainted milk. One company disposed of 300 tonnes of milk by burning it.
Now, firms are developing ways to use the tainted milk in manufacturing bricks and cement:
Using the milk products in the manufacturing process is estimated to cost 700 yuan ($153) for each tonne of milk processed, more than 70 per cent cheaper than burning it in garbage incinerators, earlier media reports said.
The reports said that burying the poisoned products was another alternative allowed by the Government, at a cost of 200 yuan a tonne, ($43.70) but quantities would have to be limited to prevent soil pollution.
The tainted milk scandal has also spread to other nearby countries, and has negatively impacted the dairy industry in Vietnam.
For more on the milk scandal, see CDT past posts.
[Image courtesy of the China Daily]
