To more efficiently recycle fluorescent tubes, which contain toxic chemicals including mercury, about 2,000 shops islandwide which sell the product will begin to form a new recycling system, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday.
Beginning Nov. 1, consumers will be able to recycle used fluorescent tubes at shops near their home during business hours. Previously, to abandon such tubes people have to either wait for garbage trucks on certain days when the recycling pick-up service is available or contact registered recyclers.
"Beginning November 1, people can choose the most convenient way to recycle fluorescent tubes," Environmental Protection Administrator Chang Juu-en (張祖恩) said yesterday. "And we do so in order to ensure our land's sustainability."
Officials said that fluorescent light tubes contain potentially harmful substances such as highly toxic heavy metals -- in particular mercury, cadmium and lead. There is no risk to health when the mercury remains safely inside the tube. However, the problem comes when people dispose it.
Chang said arbitrarily discarding fluorescent tubes contain the hazardous metals and fluorescent powders may pollute the environment and further jeopardize public health.
The EPA also reminded residents of the necessity of wrapping used fluorescent tubes because breakage might create the risk of toxic seepage into the environment. Even worse, officials said that toxic mercury waste may find its way into the food chain.
Dealers who fail to cooperate with the EPA on the recycling project will be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000.
The EPA did not implement a compulsory recycling program for fluorescent tubes until 2002. Prior to 2002, used fluorescent tubes were either recycled and treated as industrial waste and sent to landfills or incinerators.
Statistics show that only 523 tonnes of such tubes were recycled in 2002. However, extraordinary efforts made by the EPA to promote such recycling led to a stronger performance last year, when 7,800 tonnes of fluorescent tubes were recycled. All recycled tubes were treated by four factories adopting advanced technologies that can not only separate hazardous fluorescent powders but also refine mercury.
During the first seven months of this year, more than 2,400 tonnes of fluorescent tubes were recycled. EPA officials said that they were still keeping their eyes on the amount of recycled fluorescent tubes to figure out why it appeared to be declining this year. In 2001, the EPA estimated that Taiwan annually consumes 89.54 million fluorescent tubes weighing about 8,900 tonnes.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS