The Ministry of Environment yesterday said it is eyeing stricter regulation of solid recovered fuel (SRF), and would follow EU standards to classify various categories of SRF, in response to pollution and other concerns.
SRF is created from combustible components of waste, including plastics, biodegradable material, paper and metal, which could come from municipal solid waste, or from commercial and industrial sources.
The material is burned in incinerators to generate energy in Taiwan.
Photo: Chan Shih-hung, Taipei Times
However, when questioning Minister of Environment Hsueh Fu-sheng (薛富盛), lawmakers yesterday cited disregard of regulations by producers and pollution issues, including alleged contamination by dioxins and other
toxic materials,
Hsueh acknowledged past pollution and other problems, saying that the ministry would impose more rigid control measures.
These would include classifying SRF into categories by applying EU standards and mandating more inspections to boost SRF sampling and testing capacity, Hsueh told lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tu Chuan-chi (涂權吉) said that Taiwan currently has 53 SRF producers and 11 firms that do SRF incineration.
Many of them are located in Taoyuan, where residents have complained of pollution and poor air quality, Tu said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said that serious efforts are needed to oversee SRF, and questioned the ministry’s current push to pass a draft “waste resource circulation promotion act.”
“Provisions in the bill would change the term ‘waste material’ (廢棄物) into ‘waste resource’ (廢棄資源). We believe if this is passed, then unscrupulous businesses will bury industrial waste in landfills and label contaminated waste as SRF to burn at incinerators,” Lin said.
“We must control and reduce the volume of industrial waste at the source, and must not allow unchecked materials labled as SRF to enter incinerators,” she said.
“Due to a lack of monitoring, Taiwan’s SRF materials used to generate energy are of much lower quality when compared to the EU, Japan and South Korea,” she added.
Hsueh said that in the past there was no classification for SRF material sources and checks were only made after production.
Now, the ministry is to take a page from the EU to require classification for SRF sources, he said.
In addition, whereas new producers previously only had to submit a document for business operation, they would now need to undergo a three-stage evaluation starting with submitting documents, then an on-site inspection and a check on initial pilot operations, he added.
Together with other lawmakers, Lin raised a motion demanding that Hsueh outline programs by his ministry “for enhanced monitoring, inspections and guidance on SRF producers,” and to table a report with the legislature within one month.
Legislators also required ministry officials to address pollution and other problems by drafting standards for SRF incineration emission levels and working with Ministry of Economic Affairs officials to conduct checks at all SRF producers and incinerators, with a report detailing the results to be submitted within two months.
“SRF will not be allowed to be sourced from sludge or imported waste, and international standards on mercury level will be applied along with stricter classification checks,” Resource Circulation
Administration Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said, adding that the measures would be formally announced by the end of the month.
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