Plastic bottle caps, food packaging, single-use utensils and scrapped toys are just some of the throw-away items that have been given a new life at a zero-waste workshop in Taipei.
Customers get hands-on experience in the recycling process, taking plastic waste brought from home and then melting and molding it into a pair of sunglasses within two hours.
“What we are trying to show in the Trash Kitchen is to let you see, feel, touch within minutes how this process can actually work without secondary pollution, and you can actually turn it into something of value directly in front of you,” said Arthur Huang, founder of Miniwiz, the company that runs the workshop.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The Taiwan company also produces tiles, bricks, hangers and other daily necessities from plastic and organic waste, using a “miniTrashpresso,” a machine it developed in 2017, Huang said.
Harper’s Bazaar Taiwan editor-in-chief Kora Hsieh said the sunglasses project is a good initiative to promote sustainable fashion.
“I think environmental protection and fashion still have a long way to go. As for consumers, it is important for them to get first-hand experience, so a workshop like this is very helpful,” she said.
Participants said the workshop inspired them to think twice about producing trash and to pay more attention to reusable items.
“I have two children. I need to think about their future,” business owner Debbie Wu, 40, said.
“If you throw away trash without thinking, you kick the problem down the road. So if everyone can do their best, recycle and use less plastic, that will make a big difference,” Wu said.
The nation produced a record 11.58 million tonnes of waste last year, including 6.27 million tonnes of recyclable materials, data from the Ministry of Environment showed.
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
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
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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