In recent years, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) has actively carried out in-depth audits and applied existing pollution source management systems to assist in evidence collection technologically. It has been exposed that those illegal companies with falsely reported and fake data in reducing the amount of air pollution fees. In 2023, this project continues to implement auditing and conducts comparative analysis with three selected manufacturing processes including tape manufacturing processes, PU leather manufacturing processes, and gravure printing processes. The results indicated that the abnormal risk values (i.e., number of transactions) of the 25 companies screened were relatively high. Among them, 15 companies had more than 30 suspected abnormal transactions, and another 6 companies had air pollution fee 1.2 times greater than the approved amount. There are also 8 companies on the recommended priority lists that had large differences from the volatile organic compound emission ratios.
This project also implements the "Assessment Report on Key Factors of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Products Diversified by Process Features" to analyze the ratio of volatile organic compound emissions required for input-output balance. The results showed that prior to unit product control of the PU leather manufacturing processes, the volatile organic compound emission ratio was about 160~418 kg VOC per metric ton of product, with average value at about 290 kg VOC per metric ton of product. Due to the lack of inspections in the PU leather manufacturing process, the volatile organic compound emission ratio per unit product before control is 119.4 kg VOC per metric ton of product.
This project analyzed and compared those gravure printing processes and PU leather manufacturing processes before and after inspection by the prosecutors and police. The results showed that the range of waste solvent production per unit product is approximately 9.14~146 kg of waste solvent/metric ton of product. It is recommended to set 150 kg as a key parameter for the waste solvent per metric ton of product, if a rapid assessment of shortage in air pollution fees is required. In addition, this project found that the range of waste plastic mixture per unit output was from 4% to 19%. It is thus recommended to set 20% as a key parameter for rapid evaluation, so that subsequent law enforcement personnel can quickly check high-risk companies and conduct inspections in reducing the risk of polluting behavior.
This project also set up an Artificial Intelligence (AI) image recognition system in designated areas. The goals are to improve the professional capabilities of inspectors in law enforcement officers, to improve the performance of combating environmental crimes, and to effectively monitor factory chimney emission images in industrial areas or specific locations. To monitor suspicious chimney emissions, this project completed the environmental survey of the AI image recognition installation point on May 26, 2023. On June 14, 2023, the equipment installation and monitoring screen were on-line, and started to collect images and smoke flow. The monitoring scope were divided into three areas (A, B, and C), and statistics of AI image recognition alarm frequency from July 2023 to October 2023 are compiled. The results showed that areas A and B had higher frequency of abnormal smoke flow alarms. It is recommended that law enforcement officers might conduct on-site inspections of factories in those areas to confirm whether the real on-site operations and control equipment are working in accordance with regulations.
This project organized five meetings that were related to improving environmental law strategies, and assisted in the construction of a digital teaching material for environmental law enforcement training using 360 panoramic shooting technology in restoring the inspection sites. One of them was OO glue factory in Wuqi District, Taichung City on May 5, 2023. The factory replaced the out-dated control equipment to improve air pollution of the factory. The on-site shooting survey was completed on June 2, 2023, and the 3D environmental shooting of the factory was completed with a 3D model was generated. Through the cloud platform, the 3D virtual reality of the factory's process and control equipment can be browsed, and on July 4, 2023, the experts were invited to assist in the filming of key teaching videos. Through this way, together with flowcharts and presentations can be used as teaching aids, allowing law enforcement officers to conduct inspection training in simulated scenarios, thereby strengthening the practical experience and improving the effectiveness of education and training.
To record the inspection and evidence collection process completely and effectively, this project has assisted the MOE to carry out three environmental law enforcement-related video shootings in key polluted areas. The shooting themes are: (1) The implementation results of the training session on process improvement and the high-efficiency air pollution control equipment, (2) The introduction of the illegally abandoned smart fence system and its application, and (3) The coalition of the prosecutors, police and environmental officers in joint investigate on various environmental crime cases.
