The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) announced yesterday that recycling of mobile telephones and compact discs (CD) will be enforced beginning on Monday.
The EPA said that mobile phones and CDs must now be handed to garbage collectors when people bring out their household waste.
If mobile phones or CDs are found among normal household waste, violators will first be given a warning.
Fines
Repeat offenders, however, will receive a fine of between NT$1,200 (US$36.87) and NT$6,000, EPA officials said.
According to local media reports, statistics show that 1 billion CDs are used in Taiwan every year, but many consumers are not aware that CDs can be recycled.
A test recycling project for mobile phones and CDs initiated by the EPA in 2004 in the cities of Taipei, Kaohsiung and Keelung, as well as Taipei, Taoyuan, Jiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Yilan and Penghu counties, was not a complete success according to the report.
EPA officials were reported as saying that recycling rates are quite low when compared to sales volumes because CDs are generally kept, unless stored data loses its validity or information can no longer be burned onto them.
The report said that even though replacement rates for mobile phones are fairly high, consumers are normally reluctant to discard old but functioning phones, and chose to either keep them or sell them back to telecom companies.
EPA officials further said that mobile phones and CDs have a recycling value and are considered general waste, the handling of which is specified in Article 5, section 6 of the Waste Disposal Act (
In other related news, a research laboratory at Far East College announced yesterday their latest achievement in the development of CD recycling technology.
Chen Chia-hsun (
Chen said that more than 1 billion CDs were used every year in Taiwan, with most of these eventually winding up in refuse dumps.
If the polymer composite in CDs is recycled, it could be used again in items such as car bumpers, mobile phones and laptop computers.
Efficient
Chen said that by combining microwaves, supersonic waves and a low density alkaline fluid, the new technology was able to peel down metal layers on CDs more efficiently and cost-effectively.
After removing the metal layer, the remaining polymer composite can be crushed into small particles and subsequently used in the manufacture of other commodities.
Chen said that if all 1 billion CDs were recycled, the extracted polymer composite would have a market value of between NT$500 million and NT$700 million.
"[It could prove] quite profitable for any recycling company," Chen added.
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