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EPA striving to give incinerators a cleaner image

"We've built the nation's biggest water park right inside the facility to demonstrate that no black smoke comes out of the incinerator chimney."

Chang Hwang-jen, Tainan City Environmental Protection Bureau secretary-general

Thanks to advanced technology and a little creativity, waste treatment facilities -- and their by-products -- ?are shedding their smelly image, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.

Instead of going down the drain and increasing water treatment costs, kitchen waste can be processed into pig feed or fertilizer and sold to businesses, killing two birds with one stone, said Lin Mao-yuan (林茂原), section-chief of the administration's Bureau of Environmental Inspection.

"Last year alone, the EPA collected 663,000 tonnes of kitchen waste, or 1,800 tonnes a day, saving the nation from building the equivalent of two 900-tonne incinerators while creating a NT$2,400 million [US$78 million] economic gain," Lin said.

In light of the success of the waste project, the administration is planning to eventually mandate the collection of kitchen waste, Lin said.

"Twenty to 30 percent of all domestic waste is kitchen waste -- which translates to 5,400 tonnes a day throughout Taiwan," he said. "If we could increase the 1,800 tonne daily amount to 2,200 tonnes by 2012, the economic value created from them would be even grander."

In Taichung County, kitchen waste fertilizers have become very popular, especially after fertilizers transformed Hsinshe Township (新社) into a cherry blossom tourist attraction, Lin said.

Other agricultural successes included rose apples in Pingtung County and custard apples in Taitung County, he said.

"If you consider how much pork one could raise with pig feed from kitchen waste, Taiwanese should make more of an effort to increase the percentage of it we separate from our regular trash," he said.

But pig feed from kitchen waste and fertilizers are by no means the only modern waste treatment of benefit, the EPA said.

In Tainan, a large water park -- including 12 attractions such as giant slides and a wave machine -- is set to open on May 4th inside the boundary of its eco-friendly incinerator facility.

"We should get rid of the idea that incinerators are dirty and polluting," Tainan City Environmental Protection Bureau Director-General Chang Hwang-jen (張皇珍) told reporters at a press conference.

"We've built the nation's biggest water park right inside the facility to demonstrate that no black smoke comes out of the incinerator chimney," she said.

"The park will be free to all Chenghsi Borough [城西] residents as a reimbursement for hosting the incinerator in their neighborhood," she said.

It is "possibly the biggest recreational water park in the nation," she said.

The park is hosting a naming competition open to all primary and middle school students around the nation, with the winner receiving a NT$30,000 scholarship and other prizes worth NT$20,000, she said.

Interested students can apply online at www.tnepb.gov.tw from now through Monday.
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