Polluting fruit processor suspends production
By Kim Minh - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Three days after being caught discharging untreated used cooking oil into rainwater sewers on National Road 13, Vinamit on Monday said it would indefinitely suspend its main dried fruit plant in Ben Cat in Binh Duong Province.
In a statement, Vinamit general director Nguyen Lam Vien said the closure of the six-hectare facility would begin on Tuesday and last until the problem was solved and the authorities allowed it to run again.
On August 20, environment police of Binh Duong discovered Vinamit discharging untreated cooking oil through the pipes connected with the rainwater drainage system on National Road 13.
Vien admitted that because the facility was located in a densely populated area, there was not much room for discharging the liquid. So earlier this year, Vinamit asked Becamex Corp., which oversees the road, for permission to connect its drainage system with that along the road. Though the deal was not reached, Vinamit was still releasing its untreated oil into the road sewers.
The fruit processor had several times been found to discharge untreated wastewater and used oil into the environment and have even been fined by Binh Duong authorities.