2017-03-01 Yunlin County is home to the most swine in Taiwan. In order to meet international environmental protection trends, the Environmental Protection Bureau of Yunlin County Government has been striving to publicize the Environmental Protection Administration’s “Livestock Digestate, Farmland Fertilizer” policy. Twenty information sessions and one public meeting covering the Water Pollution Control Act and digestate reutilization have so far been held in the 20 regions of the county in 2016.
During the seven months already spent on promoting the “Livestock Digestate, Farmland Fertilizer” policy, the Executive Yuan’s Council of Agriculture has already ratified one case of digestate reutilization, with a number of other cases currently being reviewed. In order to publicize this policy, the Environmental Protection Bureau had already held 15 information sessions on the new regulations throughout the county by March 2016, with an overall average attendance rate of 71.4%. While publicity and guidance was being provided on the new policy, the Bureau sent personnel to visit farms and carry out on-site surveys and guidance sessions, and also helped farmers to complete the associated paperwork. Nevertheless, there were still some farmers who were keen to comply, yet unsure of the associated rules and regulations. To ensure that knowledge of this policy reached all of the county’s livestock farms, a further four information sessions and one public meeting were held from October 19th to 24th. It was hoped that further guidance would improve understanding among the public of water pollution levies and digestate reutilization regulations, as well as helping the county’s farmers to work toward a low-pollution breeding environment.
These extra sessions were attended by a total of 631 people who consisted of livestock farmers, farmers’ associations from across the county, district offices, farming subcontractors, and other related producers, with the sessions covering various topics from water pollution levies to digestate reutilization. It is hoped that by amending the main areas of the current Water Pollution Control Act to change the way livestock farms deal with their farm and waste water, their digestate could start to be seen as a valuable resource. This is because when anaerobic fermentation is carried out on this digestate, it can become an organic form of fertilizer which can be used to irrigate fields. After learning more about this policy, there was a great response from the audience members, with a discussion on current regulations being held and further recommendations being put forward. It is hoped that all of this will result in less pollution of the rivers in Yunlin County, as well as leading to cleaner rivers, fertile farmland, and a more sustainable environment.
In his role as Director-General of the Environmental Protection Bureau, Lin Chang-chao stated that 2016 was the year when an all-out effort was made to publicize digestate reutilization. He also thanked the county’s farmers for their participation in the sessions held. If you have any queries regarding the rules and regulations mentioned in this article, please contact the Yunlin County Environmental Protection Bureau’s Water Quality Protection Department on 05-552-6255 / 05-5526255.