The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday said it has established an Illegal Dumping Management System, which uses GPS on garbage trucks, security cameras on waste treatment facilities and satellite remote sensing technologies to combat illegal dumping.
Department of Waste Management director-general Wu Tien-chi (吳天基) said an information system for illegal dumping sites was set up in 2004 for environmental police units and local governmental agencies to report such sites and for the public to query where the locations of the sites.
“However, cases of illegal dumping continued, such as aluminum waste slag found illegally dumped near Highway No. 61 in Greater Kaoshiung last year,” Wu said.
The updated system integrates new monitoring technologies to provide precise information on the existing sites and to help prevent illegal dumping using strict surveillance devices, the EPA said.
The system is open to the public, environmental protection bureaus and judicial agencies to respond as quick as possible, Wu said.
About 160 sites that have not been cleaned up are listed in the system. The largest number of illegal sites, 51, were located in Greater Tainan, followed by Changhua County with 31. Wu said the reason so many sites were in these areas might be because of the large amount of industrial waste dumped along Greater Tainan’s Er-ren River (二仁溪) in the past and along rivers in Changhua County.
The EPA said it was unable to disclose the total amount of illegally dumped waste and detailed information on the 160 sites, only saying that the sites were undergoing clean up and that that figure would be announced in April.
Wu said a severe case in Greater Taichung contained more then 100,000 tonnes of waste at one site. In addition, Wu said a public hearing on modifying the draft regulations for managing the use of general waste — recycled ash from incinerators — and the key point of the modified draft regulation were to limit the use of recycled ash to indirect agricultural use (farmhouse and farm roads), but would strictly be prohibited for direct agricultural use (growing crops, rearing live stock, or cultivated farming).
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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