34 indicted over illegal dumping of construction waste in Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung, Sept. 3 (CNA) Kaohsiung prosecutors have indicted 34 people for allegedly illegally dumping construction waste at multiple farmland sites in Kaohsiung, generating more than NT$62 million (US$1.97 million) in illicit profits.

The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office released the indictment Thursday, saying the main suspect, a man surnamed Huang (黃), signed a contract with a construction company in 2024 to handle the removal and disposal of construction waste generated during the building of a multistory parking facility at Kaohsiung International Airport.

In 2025, Huang represented a company that took on a similar contract to handle construction waste from a social housing project in Zuoying District, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said Huang and others obtained approval documents authorizing them to transport the waste to two legal soil and gravel facilities.

However, during 2025, Huang allegedly instructed his staff to tell truck drivers to enter the authorized facilities, tilt their truck beds and leave the site without unloading the waste, creating the appearance through photographs that the waste had been properly disposed of, according to the indictment.

Instead, the construction waste was dumped at multiple farmland sites in Daliao District, Kaohsiung, prosecutors said.

Huang allegedly paid NT$200 to NT$400 per truckload to farmland owners and told them that the waste could be used to raise the level of their land, according to the indictment.

To create more space for illegal dumping, the suspects allegedly excavated the farmland to a depth of about 4 meters and dumped 1,938 truckloads of waste, totaling about 18,600 cubic meters, prosecutors said.

The prosecutors also alleged that operators of the two authorized soil and gravel facilities stamped the disposal manifests and entered false records into the government's construction remaining soil and stone information system.

Based on manifests seized during the investigation, prosecutors estimated that 4,045 truck trips involving illegal dumping took place over a three-month period, generating more than NT$62 million in illicit profits.

After receiving the disposal fees from the construction companies, Huang allegedly paid the two authorized facilities fees for allowing the trucks to make the so-called "site loops," prosecutors said.

The prosecutors indicted Huang, his company, operators of the authorized soil and gravel facilities and others involved in the scheme, totaling 34 people and six companies, for alleged violations of the Waste Disposal Act and other laws.

They recommended prison sentences of more than four years and 10 months for Huang and other key defendants.