A kingdom of CDs and how to deal with them

Ritek Corporation (錸德科技), the world's largest CD manufacturing company, is now cooperating with Polytech to make CDs from recycled discs. When the metal parts are removed and the discs are returned to polycarbonate particles, they can be made into new discs.

According to Eric Ai (艾元瑞), a Ritek spokesman, the corporation has started producing what they call "environment-friendly" discs. Currently, just a few million discs are being made each month and these are generally exported and cost about NT$1 less than usual discs. The company has also applied for the "environment-friendly" label (環保標章) issued by the EPA, a label guaranteeing the product is produced through an environment-friendly process. When the label is issued and when the production amount is raised, Ritek's environmently-friendly discs may be sold in Taiwan.

The EPA is scheduled to announce in July that CDs will be recyclable items and will set up a recycling system. This means you will be able to give waste discs to garbage truck workers at certain recycling points, or leave them at designated computer stores. But because of the election and delays in policy-assessment work there are doubts that the scheme will be implemented on time, the EPA official said.

Solely from a business point-of-view, Chuang from Polytech, is waiting impatiently for the implementation of the new government policy. "We need more sources for waste CDs," he said.

Currently, 60 percent of Polytech's discarded CDs are from manufacturers such as Ritek. Discarded household CDs account for less than 40 percent. "If people start to recycle discs, it will definitely be positive for our business. In future we plan to use 80 percent household waste discs and 20 percent from manufacturers," Chuang said. "This way, it will encourage more CD recycling businesses to start up. We welcome more competitors because this is the kind of business where you can make money and do good things for the environment. Why not?"