The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started to conduct random checks on the edible oil used by night market vendors. The EPA said on Monday that it will also collect information on how waste oil is collected from vendors and where it ends up.
The EPA says that more than 30,000 tons of waste oil is produced every year. But no one knows exactly where the oil goes once it is collected. The agency says it will set up a tracking and collection system that can pinpoint the whereabouts of the waste oil.
A senior specialist with the Industrial Waste Control Center, Liu Ruei-hsiang, explains:
“Our goal is to keep track of all the waste oil in Taiwan," said Liu. "There are two ways that people can dispose of the waste oil properly: one is to hand the oil over to the local cleaning squads; and the other is to take the oil to designated institutions. Environmental agencies will monitor those institutions. The waste oil will be turned into bio-diesel so that the waste oil will not linger in the environment.”
Representatives from a night market tourism committee said that vendors are happy to cooperate with the EPA because the tainted oil scandal has hurt their business.