The Executive Yuan Council today approved a new resource reutilization bill drafted by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to boost recycling efforts, promote green design and encourage waste reduction at the source.
The EPA said the bill began with a vision of sustainable recycling and a recycling-oriented society. To draft the bill, the EPA combined the existing Waste Disposal Act and Resource Recycle Act and studied legislations of countries such as the United States and Germany. The draft law is pending ratification by the Legislative Yuan.
Major points of the bill are as follows:
1. Priority consideration should be given to the reuse, recycling, energy recovery and appropriate disposal, in that order, of waste resources. (Article 10)
2. Government agencies, public schools and public enterprises must preferentially procure environmentally preferable products. (Article 25)
3. The enforcement authority shall be responsible for the disposal of domestic waste resources. The central competent authority shall designate the types of domestic waste to be collected and the method of disposal. (Article 41)
4. The central competent authority shall designate the types of domestic waste that may be recycled and prescribe regulations for their management. (Article 43)
5. The central competent authority shall designate the types of industrial waste that may be renewed and prescribe regulations for their management. (Article 49)
6. The central competent authority may designate organizations or facilities to dispose of waste resources. Fees collected to clear industrial waste and restore disposal facilities shall be deposited into an industrial waste resources disposal fund. (Article 57)
7. The central competent authority shall periodically identify and award enterprises with outstanding performance in waste reduction and renewable technology development. (Article 71)
8. If a party obtains benefit from a violation of this law and the benefit exceeds the maximum fine, the fine may be increased at discretion within the limit of the obtained benefit, regardless of the maximum fine. The central competent authority shall prescribe regulations on the definition and method of calculating improper gains. (Article 103)
9. After the new law takes effect, the original rules regarding permits, approval and registration may continue to apply for a period of time.
(Article 114)