The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is to convene a roundtable discussion today with biodegradable plastic product manufacturers, consumer representatives, recycling business owners and experts to discuss how to better dispose of such products.
The latest statistics from the EPA showed that the most common type of biodegradable plastic products in Taiwan, made from polylactic acid (PLA), amounted to 6,964 tonnes last year, with a recycling rate of only 5.2 percent, or 363 tonnes.
However, while biodegradable plastic products are widely used in the nation, only two local companies are capable of fully processing such products, said Wei Wen-yi (魏聞宜), deputy secretary-general of the EPA’s Recycling Management Fund.
As the two companies are capable of handling up to 4,200 tonnes per year of recycled biodegradable plastic products, they can easily deal with the aforementioned 363 tonnes of recycled plastic, she said.
However, the reality is more complicated as biodegradable plastic products outwardly resemble most other plastic products and, as such, many are not correctly recycled, she said.
The difficulty in spotting PLA products, and their comparative rarity, has led to a lack of interest among many recycling business owners, she added.
The EPA has said that biodegradable plastic products must be recycled and offers a NT$15.17 subsidy per kilogram of recyled biodegradable plastic products, the EPA said.
The current method of disposing of biodegradable plastic products is to make them into solid recovered fuel, it said.
The common practice abroad is to burn biodegradable plastics or to turn them into compost, the EPA said, but added that not all composting plants can process biodegradable plastics.
The EPA is reviewing how to better deploy technology in recycling, and is holding a discussion today on how to categorize, treat and reuse biodegradable plastics.
The agency is considering issuing regulations to limit biodegradable plastics for use in certain products and reviewing subsidy rates for recycling efforts.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
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Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
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