The public is encouraged to recycle used batteries, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday, ahead of the Lantern Festival next week, which is expected to generate nearly 4 tonnes of batteries used to power handheld lanterns.
The agency estimated that a total of 1.26 million button-cell-powered lanterns would be given out by local governments this year to celebrate the festival, which would produce 3.79 tonnes of waste batteries as each lantern uses three 1g button cells.
Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium, and throwing away used batteries could cause environmental and health hazards, the EPA said.
“Toxic metals can leak from improperly disposed batteries and enter the food chain and human body, causing neurological symptoms, reproductive impairment, and liver and kidney diseases. The EPA urges the public to do garbage sorting and make sure that batteries are properly recycled,” EPA Resource Recycling Fund Management Committee staffer Chao Kuo-feng (趙國芬) said.
The nation uses about 9,300 tonnes of batteries every year and had a recycle rate of about 47 percent last year, which meets the EU’s 45 percent waste battery recycling goal, Chao said.
Taiwan has an 80 percent reuse rate of waste batteries, from which manganese powder, iron and zinc are retrieved, she said.
“Batteries have rather low recycling rates because they are small and often discarded as trash, or they have special design specifications, such as machine batteries and laptop batteries, some of which are not easy to remove, so they are usually disposed of along with the appliances they power,” she said, adding that the agency had instructed local governments to design easily detachable battery holders for giveaway lanterns.
The agency also encouraged people to remove used batteries from larger appliances for use in low-power consumption appliances, such as alarm clocks, remote controls and calculators, to drain residual power before recycling them.
Used batteries can be dropped off at convenience stores, cosmetic shops and electronics outlets. Some convenience stores provide incentives for battery recycling, such as an NT$8 shopping discount at 7-Eleven, or a tea egg or a yogurt drink at FamilyMart in exchange for a bag of batteries weighing 500g, she said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS