The Consumers’ Foundation said on Wednesday that the government should develop a new national standard that clearly categorizes biodegradable levels of toilet paper and facial tissue and that manufacturers should improve the labeling on their products, including providing biodegradable levels.
A survey conducted by the foundation between Aug. 12 and Sunday with 1,340 individuals showed that 77 percent of respondents were in favor of flushing away used toilet paper — 55 of whom said they already did so — while 23 percent disagreed with the practice.
The survey was held in light of a controversy over calling on people to flush used toilet paper rather than throwing it in waste bins as a way to save on disposal costs.
As toilet paper is made mainly from wood pulp, it breaks down easily in water, while facial tissue contains both wood pulp and paper additives, such as wet-strength agents, which means that it does not break down as easily, said Wu Chia-cheng (吳家誠), a foundation member and professor in the Department of Chemistry at National Taiwan Normal University.
Used toilet paper can generally be disposed of by flushing, Wu said, but given that it is difficult to differentiate between toilet paper and facial tissue from the packaging alone, manufacturers should improve packaging and labeling to highlight the differences between the two types of paper products, which would enable consumers to tell one from the other, Wu said.
As of April, the nation’s household sewer connection rate was only 18.38 percent, Wu said, adding that toilet paper should only be flushed down in areas where toilets are connected to sewage treatment systems, or where septic tanks are emptied frequently, to avoid harming the environment
Toilet paper in many other countries is made from short-fiber pulp and does not contain bactericides, whitening and bleaching agents, Wu said.
This type of paper, he said, is the main source of food for microscopic organisms that can help pollution control by metabolizing organic matter in sewage.
He said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection should establish criteria for the classification of toilet paper products’ degradable levels to help consumers distinguish between products that can be flushed in toilets from those that cannot.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS