The Ministry of Environment is to propose a management plan for large-scale post-disaster temporary waste storage by the end of February, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said today.
The move follows a fire that broke out at the Wushulin temporary waste storage site in Tainan’s Houbi District (後壁) on Nov. 21.
The Tainan Fire Bureau is investigating the cause of the fire and penalties would be imposed if the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau is found to have been at fault due to improper planning, Peng said.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
The Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee today invited Peng and other agencies to report on waste management issues.
Taiwan currently has 33 exposed “trash mountains,” he said.
Since the end of last year, 53 exposed garbage sites were identified and 20 have since been eliminated, he added.
As of the end of last month, Taiwan had 608,000 tonnes of waste exposed in garbage pileups, the ministry said.
About 444,000 tonnes, or 73 percent of the total volume of those “trash mountains,” are in Hsinchu County, Tainan and Nantou County, it said.
However, proper waste management has been achieved in Pingtung County and Chiayi City, it added.
The ministry originally aimed to reduce exposed garbage to 410,000 tonnes by the end of the year, although typhoon-related waste and food waste have been sent to incinerators in place of the exposed garbage and has overwhelmed capacity, Peng said.
The goal remains to ensure proper treatment of all exposed waste nationwide by the end of next year, he said.
The ministry also said it is studying Japan’s approach to managing large-scale post-disaster temporary waste storage, finding that differences in stacking scale, height and density of waste processing in Japan help prevent major fires.
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Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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