Three 24-hour “smart” battery recycling stations recently set up around Hsinchu are capable of accepting seven sizes of dry-cell batteries in exchange for points that can be used for discounts throughout the city.
Aiming to encourage recycling while also reducing contact during the COVID-19 outbreak, the city collaborated with recycling start-up Ecoco to create the “battery hubs,” Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said on Monday.
Taiwanese use 11,000 tonnes of dry-cell batteries every year, but only about 4,000 tonnes are recycled, the Hsinchu Environmental Protection Bureau said, citing Environmental Protection Administration data.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
To ensure that more of these batteries are recycled, the city collaborated with Ecoco to offer a solution that is flexible and attractive to consumers, it said.
The smart battery hubs can accept as few as one battery in exchange for Ecoco and Green Points, which can be spent on discounts or offers from participating businesses, the city said.
The machines are located at two MilkShop stores on Minzu Road and Beimen Street, and at the Showba general goods store on Dazhuang Road, the firm’s Web site shows.
They accept D, C, AA, AAA and AAAA batteries, as well as 9-volt batteries, but not the coin-type batteries, it said.
To collect points, users must first download the Ecoco Circular Economy (Ecoco循環經濟) and Green Point (環保集點) apps, the city government said.
Users can earn 250 Green Points for each battery, as well as 10 Ecoco points for type D and C batteries, and five points for other sizes, it said, adding that the stations are to be set up until Dec. 31.
On the Green Point app, 100 points are equivalent to NT$1 and can be used on public transportation, as well as at most major convenience stores and other participating businesses, it said.
Ecoco points can be exchanged for discounts or offers from nearly 100 businesses, including Showba, MilkShop, Foodpanda and Taiwan Taxi Co, the firm’s Web site shows.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai