Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-14
By: Wendy Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Three local environmental groups have initiated online petition against the holding of barbecues during the Mid-Autumn Festival, as doing so creates large amounts of trash every year and contributes to serious air pollution, one of the environmental group Zero Waste Taiwan said Wednesday.

Outdoor barbecuing is part of the celebrations of Mid-Autumn Festival that is uniquely seen in Taiwan. However, it also inevitably generates large amounts of waste and air pollution that is harmful to the environment.

The use of disposable products such as barbeque grills and plastic tableware every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations has led to a marked increase in trash, and has become a major cause of environmental problems, Zero Waste Taiwan said.

The petition is thus a push against the holding of barbecues during the national holiday, in hopes of raising awareness of the importance of protecting the environment by reducing waste and air pollution, the environmental group added.     [SOURCE]

Taiwanese drink an estimated 2.3 billion cups of coffee each year, and yet only one company is in charge of recycling them.

 

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/09
By: Olivia Yang

According to statistics from the 2015 HOFEX, coffee consumption in Taiwan has jumped 400% in just four years, reaching an annual average of 100 cups per person. With a population of 23.51 million people, this means an estimated 2.3 billion cups of coffee each year, and hundreds of millions of them are in recyclable cups.

But Lin Shou-chien (林守謙) of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) tells The News Lens International that only one company in Taiwan, Lientai (連泰紙業股份有限公司), is charged with recycling tableware laminated with Polyethylene (PE) foil, the category of recyclable waste that includes coffee cups, which are not paper waste.

An employee at Lientai surnamed Chen tells TNLI that companies need to apply for a license to do this kind of recycling, which is more time consuming than recycling paper.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: July 18, 2016

The 2016 International Workshop on Climate Change was held July 13 at National Taiwan

University in Taipei City, bringing together more than 200 officials and representatives of nongovernmental organizations from European Union and Asian countries including Germany, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam to exchange information and discuss collaborative projects on carbon emissions reduction.

Sponsored by the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration and European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei, the conference focused on carbon market capacity building projects. “Taiwan is working to promote low-carbon societies through international support for and regional collaboration on carbon market development,” EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan said in his opening address at the event.

In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Ching-shan Hou similarly emphasized Taiwan’s commitment to working with the global community on establishing carbon markets. “There is an urgent need to enhance cooperation in this field both between the public and private sectors in Taiwan as well as between the country, its international partners and nongovernmental organizations,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/30
By: Wei Shu, Tang Pei-chun and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) Formosa Plastics Group issued an apology Thursday and promised to compensate victims after its steel mill in Vietnam was found to have polluted coastal waters causing a massive die-off of fish and affecting the livelihood of fishermen.

“We respect the investigation (by Vietnamese authorities),” said Formosa Plastics Group in a statement after Vietnam released a report that blamed its Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company complex in central Vietnam for polluting the coastal waters of four provinces.

“We offer our deep and sincere apology to the government and people of Vietnam for causing this environmental incident that has affected fishermen’s livelihood,” said the statement.     [FULL  STORY]

ALTERNATIVE REVENUE:Penghu is a tourist destination for about six months of the year, but a proposal for it to provide ‘green’ power might increase its industry

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 19, 2016
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter

Penghu County, with its strong potential for wind power generation, might be able to develop

“green” energy in addition to its tourism industry, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said yesterday during a visit to the islands.

Visiting the historic Matsu temple, a hospital run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as wind power facilities, the premier made his first trip to Penghu since he was sworn in last month.

“Penghu is a county with many beautiful islands, and [the county government’s decision to] make it a low-carbon-emission region is a good objective,” Lin said.

“I hope that, besides wind power, Penghu can build other ‘green’ energy facilities, making it known for its ‘green’ energy,” he added.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-03
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei City has registered the highest number of ecological burials in Taiwan since 2003 when the practice was officially introduced in the country, the Taipei Mortuary Services Office said on Sunday.

The office said that a growing number of people are becoming more acceptive of different forms of ecological burials, including burying ashes of the dead in wooded areas (tree burial) or in flower gardens (flower burials) and scattering ashes at sea (sea burial).

The containers for the ashes are made of eco-friendly and degradable materials.

The city has performed 7,989 tree burials, 1,364 flower burials and 482 burials at sea from 2003 till the end of February, the office added.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/26
By: Tang Pei-chun and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Saturday that it was using a high-tech approach to help monitor an oil slick from a container ship that ran aground off Taiwan’s northern coast more than two weeks ago.

EPA Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) said it is monitoring the ship’s situation around the clock in a bid to contain the looming ecological disaster, using radar, satellite and unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor the ship and provide contingent support.

Perhaps of greater help to the effort on Saturday was the stark improvement in the weather off Taiwan’s northern coast.

Bad weather and rough seas have meant that workers have only been able to work on the ship, including pumping out fuel and heavy oil, for six days since it first got stuck in a reef on March 10.     [FULL  STORY]