Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) yesterday said he will instruct local cleaning squads to accept and recycle oil bottles that still contain oil.
The recent adulterated oil scandals involving Flavor Full Food, which blended cottonseed oil into 24 of its products and flavoring agents to one of its peanut oil products, and Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co, which blended refined cottonseed oil with its Tatung-brand edible oil products, have caused many people to worry about the quality of oil products.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said the public has questions about how to deal with problematic oil products, so his office made calls to several local cleaning squads to make enquiries.
However, it received a few different answers, Chao said.
“Up until Wednesday last week, 186,000 tonnes of Tatung-brand edible oil products have been recalled or returned to the company, but this does not include the products from Flavor Full,” he said. “So, our office did a random survey to ask how individuals can dispose of their oil products.”
He said the answers they received included “make an appointment with the squad, and it will send someone to retrieve it,” “bring the product to the agency for recycling,” “the agency only recycles the container” and “flush the oil down the toilet, or use a plastic bag to hold the oil, because the squad only recycles the container.”
Chao said the differing answers could cause confusion and urged the EPA to set up guidelines for the disposal of oil products.
There are biomass energy plants that can recycle the oil, and it can be used in other industries, such as to make soap or detergents, Shen said, adding that oil products should not be flushed down the toilet.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
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Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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