EPA to track garbage trucks, enforce sorting

This article was written by Cecilia Fanchiang and published by the Taiwan Journal on January 6, 2006. It reports that starting in 2006, the garbage separation policy is extended islandwide from the 10 cities and counties in which it has been operating since 2005.

The Environmental Protection Administration announced recently that all residents across Taiwan are now required to abide by an enforced garbage collection program to separate their household recyclables, or be subject to a find of up to US$180. During the grace period of the first three months, the administration's personnel will conduct random inspections on citizens' garbage bags at disposal sites and help people classify their refuse.

The government's goal is to achieve a zero-waste society in Taiwan by 2007. In addition to the new measures mentioned above, the Environmental Protection Administration is planning to use GPS locator beacons to track the movements of its garbage trucks in an attempt to make the waste-disposal process more transparent and to clamp down n illegal dumping by garbage collectors. Other waste-collection facilities around Taiwan will also be improved.