The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) was yesterday accused of poor industrial waste management, which legislators said has led to the illegal use of slag and toxic waste as building materials.
A draft waste reduction and recycling act (廢棄物減量及循環利用法 ) and draft amendments to the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法) were the topics of a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
The draft bill is set to combine the Waste Disposal Act with the Resource Reuse and Recycling Act (資源回收再利用法) to define different types of industrial waste and make the EPA the sole authority responsible for industrial waste management, as industrial waste is currently managed by a total of 10 different government agencies, and each has its own rules and regulations.
However, an EPA report that had only an eight-line paragraph in response to the draft bill, which said the bill is complicated and requires more communication with the public and between government units, sparked criticism from lawmakers.
“The mismanagement of industrial waste results from waste being falsely classified as products, overlapping responsibilities and an inability to track the flow of waste materials. The most pressing issue is to come up with a set of unambiguous definitions of different types of industrial waste and their treatment methods,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) said.
Industrial Development Bureau Director Wu Ming-ji (吳明機) said that only three of the nation’s 62 industrial parks and one out of 13 science parks have toxic waste management centers.
“According to the Waste Disposal Act, industrial parks and science parks cannot begin operations unless waste management facilities are in place, but authorities of the parks do not care about the act,” New Power Party Legislator Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) said.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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