Taiwan should seek the assistance of overseas experts to more efficiently use by-products from the manufacturing sector and residential areas so that a resource-recycling society could be established, a senior official said yesterday.
Addressing an international seminar on the development of environmentally friendly industry, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) chief Chang Chu-en (張祖恩) said there was still ample room for the nation to develop its environmentally friendly industries and technologies.
With a view to building the nation into a "green silicon island," Chang said the EPA had designated four areas to accommodate environmentally friendly industrial parks, also known as "eco-industrial parks."
The four zones are located in Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taoyuan and Tainan counties.
"We hope the four areas can be developed into eco-industrial parks, in which manufacturing resources and energy are recycled for sustainable use," Chang said.
He added that the projects coincide with the EPA's existing campaign to recycle all garbage.
Chang said that the EPA approved the establishment of an eco-industrial park in Kaohsiung County's Kangshan township in March last year. Construction on the park commenced in February and seven companies with environmentally friendly credentials had applied to set up their facilities in the 40-hectare park.
Four companies began building facilities earlier this month.
Speaking at the same seminar, Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (
"The building uses recycled construction materials and energy-saving devices. It has been jointly developed by 10 universities and colleges in southern Taiwan and will be Taiwan's first eco-research facility," Yang said.
More than 60 environmental officials, industry executives and experts attended the seminar held at I-Shou University in Kaohsiung County.
Several noted environmental protection experts from the US, Japan, Canada and Austria delivered speeches on eco-industrial development.
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