With many families spring cleaning their homes in the lead-up to Chinese New Year, environmental officials are urging residents to take advantage of free recycling services for electronic and consumer appliances.
The program is run by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). In March 1998 the agency began to recycle old TV sets, washing machines, refrigerators and heating and air-conditioning units.
By the end of last year, according to EPA officials, more than 1.85 million electronic appliances had been treated at six recycling plants contracted by the EPA's Recyclable Resources Foundation.
EPA officials said that the recycling rate for TV sets, washing machines, refrigerators and heating and air-conditioning units was exceeding 80 percent.
From the old appliances, the recycling program has retrieved 4,900 tonnes of metals, 1,530 tonnes of plastics and 750 tonnes of glass, which can be turned into 91 million beer cans, 28 million PET bottles and 30,000 20-inch TV screens.
"We have to recycle these electronic appliances -- which are mainly composed of metals, plastics and some hazardous components -- because they can not be treated appropriately in landfills or incinerators," said Chang Juu-en (
Chang said that recycling consumer appliances would not only take pressure off landfills, it would also prevent potential environmental pollution caused by the leakage of toxic materials.
When visiting the Perfect Recycling Company last week -- a recycling facility in Kaohsiung County's Tafa Industrial Complex that's equipped with imported Germany technology -- Chang was met by Chen Wen-sheng (
According to Chen, before consumer appliances can be recycled, closed work-rooms must be used to extract refrigerants, which often contain chlorofluorocarbons, from refrigerators or fluorescent powders and graphite from TV monitors.
Recycled materials -- such as copper, iron, aluminum and glass -- are sent to smelters for further treatment and purified refrigerants can be reused. It's estimated that 2kg of refrigerant can be extracted from each refrigerator.
As for collected hazardous materials -- such as fluorescent powders and graphite -- Chen said they would be eventually treated by qualified waste handlers.
Roughly 1.5 tonnes of hazardous fluorescent powders are being stored temporarily at the Perfect Recycling Company.
"Highly efficient facilities here make it possible to recycle 82.5 percent of the materials," Chen said.
He said that in 2000 and last year, the company recycled 40,000 tonnes of electronic appliances, which included 470,000 TV sets, 250,000 washing machines, 300,000 refrigerators and 100,000 heating and air-conditioning units.
This year, Chen said, the company would adopt European technology to treat fluorescent tubes. Since January, the EPA has recycled waste fluorescent tubes, which were sent to landfills in the past.
Mercury and hazardous chemical compounds from the waste tubes would often leak and contaminate the environment.
As Chinese New Year is approaching, the EPA's deputy administrator Chang said residents can easily dispose of unwanted electronic appliances through diverse channels, such as electronic appliance retailers and local garbage collection teams.
The EPA's free service hotline can be reached at 0800-085-717.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
RSS