Three 24-hour “smart” battery recycling stations recently set up around Hsinchu are capable of accepting seven sizes of dry-cell batteries in exchange for points that can be used for discounts throughout the city.
Aiming to encourage recycling while also reducing contact during the COVID-19 outbreak, the city collaborated with recycling start-up Ecoco to create the “battery hubs,” Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said on Monday.
Taiwanese use 11,000 tonnes of dry-cell batteries every year, but only about 4,000 tonnes are recycled, the Hsinchu Environmental Protection Bureau said, citing Environmental Protection Administration data.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
To ensure that more of these batteries are recycled, the city collaborated with Ecoco to offer a solution that is flexible and attractive to consumers, it said.
The smart battery hubs can accept as few as one battery in exchange for Ecoco and Green Points, which can be spent on discounts or offers from participating businesses, the city said.
The machines are located at two MilkShop stores on Minzu Road and Beimen Street, and at the Showba general goods store on Dazhuang Road, the firm’s Web site shows.
They accept D, C, AA, AAA and AAAA batteries, as well as 9-volt batteries, but not the coin-type batteries, it said.
To collect points, users must first download the Ecoco Circular Economy (Ecoco循環經濟) and Green Point (環保集點) apps, the city government said.
Users can earn 250 Green Points for each battery, as well as 10 Ecoco points for type D and C batteries, and five points for other sizes, it said, adding that the stations are to be set up until Dec. 31.
On the Green Point app, 100 points are equivalent to NT$1 and can be used on public transportation, as well as at most major convenience stores and other participating businesses, it said.
Ecoco points can be exchanged for discounts or offers from nearly 100 businesses, including Showba, MilkShop, Foodpanda and Taiwan Taxi Co, the firm’s Web site shows.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS