The Ministry of Environment has announced draft amendments to regulations on waste disposal and recycling to promote a circular economy in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Resource circulation is widely considered to be a critical pathway to achieve SDGs and net zero goals, the ministry said.
The EU’s New Circular Economy Action Plan published in 2020 has revealed the importance of incorporating sustainable and circular elements into product designs instead of traditional waste management, it said.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
As current laws are not sufficient to respond to circular economy developments and industrial demand, the ministry would revise the Resource Recycling Act (資源回收再利用法), which would be renamed “the resource circulation promotion act,” and the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), it said.
The goal is to “maximize resource circulation benefits, minimize final waste disposal” by shifting from waste recycling to resource circulation, and introducing a more comprehensive mechanism to prevent illegal dumping, it said.
GUIDELINES
The resource circulation promotion act would facilitate interagency collaborations in establishing a national resource circulation program, it said.
It would also enable authorities to establish green design guidelines for products and construction projects, set packaging reuse or reduction targets for businesses, and prohibit or restrict the production, import, sale or use of certain products and packaging, the ministry said.
The government would offer rewards or subsidies for companies or organizations purchasing circular products, it said.
The ministry said that amendments to the Waste Disposal Act would focus on clamping down on illegal waste disposal.
Resource Circulation Administration Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) on Thursday said the amended Waste Disposal Act would require manufacturers and importers to pay a “clearance and disposal fee” for their business waste.
REGULATION OF FEES
The ministry had been exploring the feasibility of charging a “resource circulation promotion fee” to fund business waste recycling and reuse, but decided on imposing the “clearance and disposal fee,” Lai said.
The ministry made the decision mainly because of business operators’ concerns about inflationary spikes while they are already financially burdened with other environmental charges such as carbon, air pollution, and soil and groundwater pollution remediation fees, she said.
The ministry replaced the “resource circulation promotion fee” with the “clearance and disposal fee,” so that manufacturers or importers can be held responsible if their business generates waste that is difficult to be recycled or illegally dumped, she said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS