The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday set up the first demonstration site for recycling single-use plastic wrapping at a Carrefour Taiwan store, with an eye on inviting more hypermarkets to turn packaging into reusable materials.
The amount of large plastic wrappings used to bind boxes of goods is expected to soar due to the Ghost Festival (中元節), which falls on Aug. 15 this year, when many households prepare food for spirits that are said to have been released from the underworld.
A wholesale store produces nearly 40kg of such wrappings every day, which mostly ends up in garbage incinerators, EPA Department of Waste Management Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) told a news conference at the Carrefour store in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area.
Through the demonstration site, the agency aims to nurture a circular economy model in which more plastic wrappings are recycled and sent to reprocessing plants to be turned into other plastic products, she said.
The quantity of recycled materials is key to generating sufficient market scale, Lai said, adding that recycling firms require wrappings without stains or price stickers.
Of Taiwan’s nearly 200 plastics manufacturers, only five to six are capable of turning plastic coverings into other products, she added.
The disposal cost of plastic wrappings mixed with garbage is about NT$5 per kilogram, while cleaner coverings can be sold to recycling firms for NT$10 per kilogram, said National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology environmental engineering professor Fan Kuo-shuh (樊國恕), who helped start the recycling initiative.
The initiative next plans to set up a business alliance for such recycling efforts, while encouraging more stores and high-tech plants to join it, he said.
Eastem Plastic Enterprise Co chairman Chung Ching-chien (鍾清鈐) said that only a few firms in the nation have entered the reprocessing industry due to relatively low profits and high technical thresholds.
Eastem Plastic Enterprise purchases recycled plastics at NT$8 to NT$10 per kilogram, or up to NT$14 if they are imported, but it only makes a profit of NT$2 per kilogram, he said.
The firm, which makes products out of nearly 2,000 tonnes of recycled plastics every month, would import less plastic waste from other nations — currently about 1,200 tonnes per month — if it could secure sufficient materials recycled from domestic stores, he added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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