Agency drafts regulations on waste from optronics factories

The regulations will cover levels of biological toxicity and levels of rare metals such as gallium, indium, and molybdenum in the effluent from optronics factories, the EPA said in press statement.

Gallium is used in the manufacture of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), indium is used in wires for semi-conductors, and molybdenum in transistors.

The EPA decided to work on the regulations after a court earlier this month rejected an environmental impact assessment for a project by the Central Taiwan Science Park.

The court's ruling was based mainly on the absence of regulations on effluent from hi-tech industries that were to be located in the planned Erlin Science Park.

The EPA said it will draft waste disposal standards specifically for the optronics industry before September and will publish them for public input before finalizing them.

They will be the first guidelines in the world on the levels of gallium, indium and molybdenum in factory effluent, the EPA said, noting that the effect of these metals on humans and the environment is not clear.

However, the administration said the standards will include biological risks, in an effort to push factories to reduce their level of waste by improving the manufacturing process.

Based on the proposals so far, about 20 percent of optronics manufacturers will have to reduce their levels of biological acute toxicity, the EPA said.

They can do this by using less chemicals during the manufacturing process and tightening control of waste solvents to prevent them from entering waste water, among other measures, it suggested.

Companies will be given a reasonable period of time to improve their manufacturing process before the standards are implemented, the EPA said.

Meanwhile, the EPA said, it will continue to monitor the contents of waste from the hi-tech industry, record the main pollutants and update standards as the sector grows.

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