SCRAP MOUNTAINS:Falling prices have made government tenders for scrap collection unprofitable, while the heaps left behind make ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes
Taipei Times
Date: February 22, 2016
By: Huang Shu-li, Tsung Peng-ju and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writers
Towering piles of recyclable materials awaiting processing are nearing crisis
A person transporting recyclable materials on a bicycle walks past a scrap heap in Taipei on Saturday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
levels in some parts of the nation, public health officials and industry sources said.
Contractors are shying away from buying recycled household scrap collected by the Yunlin County Government, and recycling centers in the county’s Gukeng (古坑), Huwei (虎尾), Dounan (斗南) and Tapei (大埤) townships, among others, are unable to find buyers for their huge piles of scrap, industry sources said.
The crisis is largely due to plunging scrap prices making government scrap tenders unprofitable, industry sources said.
Gukeng Township Mayor Huang Yi-ling (黃意玲) said that she was forced to move scrap that the recycling center could no longer accommodate to the local public basketball court, following the township’s second consecutive lapsed tender. [FULL STORY]
