One hundred days after the devastating 921 quake hit central Taiwan, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday announced details of its quake waste recycling project.
EPA officials said that around 25 million tonnes of rubble from disaster sites would be turned into base materials for several construction sites in central Taiwan.
However, no clear timetable for the ambitious project was provided.
PHOTO: CHANG HSIEH-SHENG
EPA officials demonstrated a process of recycling construction materials removed from disaster areas in Taichung City yesterday in an effort to highlight the solution's efficiency.
"About 20 to 30 percent of the estimated 25 million tonnes of construction waste in disaster areas will be turned into material for road base and be used at several construction sites, including the Changpin Industrial Complex (彰濱工業區) and the second superhighway in central Taiwan (中二高)," said Chang Huang-jang (張晃彰), director-general of the EPA's central Taiwan division.
Based on a study done by the Taiwan Construction Research Institute (
Researchers from the institute said that the cost was only one-tenth that of a proposal suggested by Taoyuan County government officials using a method developed by well-known Japanese inventor Jiro Fujimasu (
Fujimasu invented a chemical additive called "Fijubeton" that also helps process waste materials into road bases, tiles and other construction materials.
Chen Cheng-chuan (
"These ground construction materials are not as fine as the gravel used for building houses, but they are the best choice for road bases because they are more resistant to liquefaction during earthquakes," said Chen, adding that ground water can permeate finer gravel and soil during seismic activity.
In addition, using recycled quake waste as raw materials for new construction makes sense, Chen said, as Taiwan suffers a chronic deficiency of gravel.
However, EPA officials admitted that a complete production and marketing network for recycling construction waste from disaster areas was yet to be established.
"Such a network could soon be established," Chang said.
Officials at the Public Construction Commission (
EPA officials said that recycling work has to be initiated soon because the 106 temporary waste dumps in central Taiwan, covering 280 hectares of land, could not accommodate all the waste collected from disaster areas.
During the first phase of the work, officials said, waste dumped at 15 out of the 106 existing sites would be recycled and removed by the end of January.
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