The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday invited electronic component manufacturers to participate in its “industrial plastic recycling network,” to encourage businesses to recycle at least 75 percent of their plastic waste, up from 65 percent currently.
Taiwan’s industrial sector produces more than 240,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year, but only 67,200 tonnes — or 28 percent — is recycled, it said.
Whereas past efforts have focused on reducing plastic waste generated from daily consumption and supermarket packaging, the efforts should extend into industry so that they stretch from production to distribution, Department of Waste Management Director Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said.
Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times
Hoping to introduce a “circular recycling” concept at source, the agency asked industries to begin sorting plastic waste into singular types to resolve the difficulty of recycling composite plastic waste, Lai said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) said it has issued a supplier packaging white paper mandating what kinds of materials its suppliers can use.
With the help of in-house recyclers to help separate materials and its creation of 20 products made from recycled goods, TSMC said it reutilizes 66 percent of its plastic waste.
TSMC deputy director Chen Kuo-ching (陳國清) said the company’s plastic reduction policies seek not only to cut down on plastic waste at the source, but also to encourage employees to recycle.
The 8,000 tonnes of reutilized plastic waste are reprocessed into trash bags, aluminum bars or solid recovered fuel, Chen said.
TSMC’s Logistics and Warehouse Management Department Materials and Resource Provision Division manager Yang Hung-long (楊宏隆) said that the company hopes to achieve 95 percent reutilization by 2025.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE) said it is establishing recycling centers to collect plastic waste generated from other factories and plants.
ASE’s recycling centers reutilized 4,300 tonnes of plastic waste last year, a reutilization rate of 68 percent, the company said.
ASE Environmental Engineering Department senior manager Tu Hsiu-mei (涂秀妹) said that the company aims to achieve 100 percent waste-to-resource utilization by 2024.
Separately, the EPA is also encouraging industries to increase their reutilization rate by adopting innovative technologies, such as a technique used by Chieh An Environmental Engineering that can separate aluminum and plastic from aluminum-plastic composite packaging and reuse both materials.
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