Taiwan, the largest manufacturer of compact discs in the world, will begin to recycle this product as early as next July, when required regulations have been established, Environmental Protection Administrator Chang Juu-en (張祖恩) said yesterday.
Officials from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday were criticized by legislators for their lax efforts to recycle compact discs, which are composed of plastic materials and diverse metals, including aluminum, gold, silver and titanium.
According to legislators, Taiwan produces 5.5 billion compact discs annually, including 4.7 billion discs for overseas markets. Common compact discs are classified into read-only memory (CD-ROM), recordable disc (CD-R) and rewritable disc (CD-RW).
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Kuei-lien (
"More than 800 million compact discs are sold annually on the domestic market. It's inappropriate to dispose of the discs only in landfills or incinerators," Cheng said.
If compact discs are dumped at landfills, he said, soil and groundwater would be polluted by heavy metals. In addition, burning compact discs containing plastic materials in incinerators might produce the dangerous chemical dioxin.
Chang said that the EPA had entrusted the Industrial Technology Research Institute with conducting a feasibility study on recycling compact discs. The final report will be completed by the end of this year.
"We estimate that the product will be efficiently recycled as early as July next year, if related regulations are established," Chang said.
Cheng's colleagues, including Kuo Jung-tsung (
According to Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), director-general of the EPA's Bureau of Solid Waste Management, the administration so far had no clear picture of the amount of unwanted compact discs that had to be recycled annually.
But according to a preliminary study by the institute, which estimates that discs have a 4-year lifespan and a 2 percent damage rate during the recording process, about 60 million compact discs weighing 990 tonnes are discarded annually in Taiwan. This conservative estimation excludes discs with defects discarded by the manufacturing sector.
According to a Ministry of Economic Affairs publication in December last year, discs damaged during the manufacturing process accounts for about 10 percent of total production.
According to the EPA, there has been only one environmental service company so far that systematically recycles compact discs. The Kaohsiung-based company, which received its license in August, is expected to recycle as many as 300 million compact discs annually. The company now produces 400 tonnes of plastic materials a month from discarded and recycled compact discs. Meanwhile, two other companies are applying for similar licenses.
Administration officials said that it's worthwhile to recycle unwanted compact discs because the production volume is still increasing significantly.
In addition to production, officials said, other factors affecting the recycling of compact discs would be considered, including potential environmental pollution, consumer behavior, the market economy and executive strategies.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS