Why is environmental protection work not going so well? The mindset of business is a critical obstacle.

"Some companies lack the concept of 'sustainable operations.' and place far more emphasis on short-term gains than on long-term ideals," says Jay Fang, head of the Green Consumer Foundation and coordinator of Earth Day activities. Thus, the environmental efforts of many enterprises simply come to a halt at the idea of "avoiding fines."

Put off until tomorrow what you can do today:

Lacking the concept of sustainable operations, many businessmen just think, "Another day, another dollar." And if they are nailed by the environmental protection agencies, they move operations; that's very common among small and medium-sized enterprises.

"Another day, another dollar" leads to a procastinating mindset. C.F. Lin manager of environmental project group at the CTCI Corporation, recalls hearing on the radio the owner of a small enterprise. The owner's enterprise had been fined on numerous occasions, and finally it was slapped with a three-month time limit to make improvements. The owner complained that the environmental protection units "aren't giving me enough time. Those guys have no sense of sympathy or reason."

Says Lin helplessly, "The problem with that is, the water pollution standards have been public for two or three years now, so why did that businessman wait until he had absorbed a number of fines before he began to do something?"

Some enterprises will do anything to put off action. The China Technical Services Corporation and the Industrial Pollution Prevention Technology Service Team, both guided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, provide free pollution-prevention advice to factories. However they are often used as escape routes instead. A business need only have the records of their recommendations. If the environmental protection agencies come to shut them down, the businesses can use the forms to "prove" that they have already begun "studying improvements" and thus ask for an extension of time.

Besides procrastination, another reason why domestic environmental protection work is not going so well is the mentality of "a penny saved, a penny earned." In particular, though there are now many large corporations, many of these were built up from scratch by hard-working and frugal entrepreneurs. It would just be too painful for them to lay out the large amount of cash required to bring in an environmental engineering firm to install a full set of equipment. There's no need to mention what the situation is like at small and medium operations where capital is low.

Given these ways of thinking, many companies prefer to invite an environmental engineering firm to their plant for an "evaluation." They draw out some simplified and crude conclusions from the evaluation and try to design and install their own machinery. In terms of cost, they've saved a lot in terms of equipment and consulting fees. But they've given up quite a bit in terms of environmental protection, so that even if they repeatedly renovate their equipment, the fines keep rolling in. In the end they have no choice but to go back to a specialist. They not only end up spending more money but come away with a sense of frustration, and thereafter react badly to the very idea of environmental protection.

The most absurd situation created by "a penny saved, a penny earned" is that many companies will spend the capital to buy pollution prevention equipment--like a waste water treatment facility--but then discover that operating it requires electricity, manpower, even chemical additives. So when night falls, and they know the inspectors won't come around, they turn the equipment off and dump their waste water out through pipes with no treatment system. "This situation is very common no matter what the size of the operation," says Yao Kuan-mu, an advisor to the Environmental Protection Administration, unable to suppress a pained laugh.

Away without leave:

Further, there are a bewildering number of small and medium enterprises, plus underground factories. This situation increases the difficulty of environmental protection work. The electroplating industry is just one example.

According to estimates, there are no fewer than 4-5,000 electroplating operations in Taiwan, large and small, overt and covert. It is relatively easy to set up the equipment for electroplating; all you need is a few containers fit with chemicals and you can get to work. But electroplating first requires that rust and impurities on the metal be washed away using nitric acid or other solvents. The electroplating process itself requires use of liquid which includes an incredibly toxic ingredient. Waste water includes poisonous heavy metal ions of nickel, zinc, and copper. Electroplating operations are definitely some of the worst culprits in causing pollution in Taiwan.

To fully resolve the problem of electroplating pollution, it is indispensable to recover residual metal ions in the waste water, as well as to use complete waste water treatment equipment. But such facilities would cost upwards of NT$1 million, and electroplaters, mostly small businessmen, aren't willing to accept such a burden. The government has set up a treatment plant for highly concentrated electroplating fluid in the Taichung area, and it is encouraging operators to use collective methods to turn their waste water over to specialists for disposal. Yet there are those who would rather sneak around and evade legal restraints.

Of course, large enterprises have plenty of manpower, so it is no big deal to send someone to attend environmental protection lectures and to explore the possibilities with others in the same industry. Also, larger companies tend to occupy large areas of land, so it is not hard to clear the requisite land to put up an incinerator or waste water treatment plant. In comparison, smaller companies are lacking in manpower, information, capital and land, so it is draining for them to do environmental protection work.

No other choice but "win-win":

To resolve this problem, the government is inclined at present to encourage businesses to work cooperatively--whether that be in handling pollution themselves or in turning it over to specialists. However, there are still few qualified specialist agents. Moreover, as soon as you mention "cooperative," you come up against concerns about the division of costs and responsibilities. As a result, thus far there hasn't been much success.

"You've got to do environmental protection work if you want to survive," says one industrial manager. Those tiny factories which can't even begin to get the job done even with outside help will just have to face being screened out.

For example, last year the government began to strictly implement a rule that only legal, licensed electroplating factories can apply for permission to import the needed chemicals. This forces underground factories to pay five or six times the market rate by buying on the black market, which is a major blow to their competitiveness. Over the last two years, the frequent closing of electroplating operations or the moving of factories has been a cause of tension, but this is the only way to maintain the long-term development of the economy and environmental protection.

Creating a "win-win" situation for the economy and the environment is no longer just a wish or a dream. It is the only road for survival under conditions of a damaged ecology. Businesses which can't achieve "win-win" conditions will be unable to do anything to escape the fate of being washed away.

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Shiny electroplated products are widely used but the production process creates a lot of pollution. Many companies are considering changing to other techniques, but fear that consumers will not accept them. (photo by Vincent Chang)