Taipei, July 12 (CNA) The Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will award funding each year to three cities and one county to assist them in recycling old furniture due to their outstanding performance in this area, according to an EPA spokesman.


    Taipei City, Taichung City, Tainan City and Chiayi County will each receive between NT$5 million and NT$20 million per year from the EPA to further enhance their furniture recycling operations, the spokesman said, noting that over 47,000 pieces of recycled furniture and more than 9,000 bikes worth some NT$32 million (about US$1 million) have been resold.

    Taipei City has so far sold more than 17,000 pieces of recycled and repaired furniture for NT$12.28 million through exhibitions at Chungshan Football Stadium and through public bidding on its Web site.

    The Taipei Environmental Protection Bureau also offered refurbished bicycles for public bidding on its Web site, with 99.7 percent of the customers expressing satisfaction with products they have purchased.

    The Taichung city government has used its recycled furniture to decorate a multipurpose recreational park that has attracted some 50,000 visitors since its inception, making it a popular sight-seeing spot in the city.

    The recreational park in the central Taiwan city has sold more than 29,000 pieces of recycled and repaired furniture for a value of over NT$12 million.

    The Tainan city’s recycling authorities run a “furniture clinic,” which has won enthusiastic response from the public for its repair services for old furniture and antiques.

    The Chiayi county government environmental protection authorities also offer furniture repairing services in cooperation with the local prison, displaying their repaired furniture at a sugar factory in the area.

(By Flor Wang)

ENDITEM/J