Officials from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday they are considering a plan to recommend revisions to the Waste Disposal Act to resolve the serious problem of recent financial losses caused by recycling PET bottles (
Speaking at the legislature yesterday, the EPA's head administrator, Tsai Hsun-hsiung (1/22勳雄), was questioned by DPP lawmaker Wang Hsueh-feng (?y?榆p) about the current massive financial losses -- estimated to total as much as NT$1 billion -- of the Recyclable Resources Foundation (資源|^|為簹鷛|).
"The huge losses have resulted from the irresponsible behavior of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) container manufacturers, who understate the total amount of their product. Or worse, they don't report these amounts at all," said Tsai.
Manufacturers are required to pay a sum of money -- proportional to the amount of their total bottle production -- to offset money paid out to consumers by the EPA for bottles they recycle.
But the EPA's funds for rewarding consumers who recycle PET bottles to retailers has fallen short, said Tsai, because manufacturers tend to understate their production levels to avoid having to pay out huge amounts of money themselves.
Tsai added that the current NT$1 per bottle being refunded to consumers has caused the number of PET bottles collected nationwide to be higher than the number of bottles reportedly manufactured.
He said that the EPA is considering whether to cancel the existing per bottle refund for consumers who recycle PET bottles to slow the rate of financial losses.
Currently, the NT$1 per bottle is available only for PVC containers -- including PET bottles -- one of 29 types of recyclable containers listed by the EPA.
However, DPP lawmaker Wang said that the cancellation of the reward was not the ultimate solution to solving financial losses generated by an imperfect recycling strategy, and "would cause other problems regarding waste management and recycling policies."
Tsai said an alternative plan currently being considered by the EPA was that the Legislative Yuan actually revise the terms of the Waste Disposal Act to charge raw material providers for recycling in addition to container manufactures.
EPA officials said that this strategy might reduce production volume.
However, Tsai said, a decision to suggest revision of the act would not be made until the opinions of manufacturers and recycling retailers have been considered.
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