Kitchens, farmers fret about upcoming ban on feeding food scraps to pigs

Kitchens, farmers fret about upcoming ban on feeding food scraps to pigs

2026-04-20

Pig famers have been using kitchen waste as feed for a long time, but it’s soon to become a thing of the past. To prevent the spread of African swine fever, the government has decided to ban the practice starting from next year. It’s not only pig famers who will need to adapt, but kitchens will also face significantly higher disposal fees. Is local infrastructure truly prepared to handle the looming surge in food waste? Let’s follow the FTV news team to find out.

Nearly 1,500 tonnes of food waste is produced every day across Taiwan, according to data from the Ministry of Environment. Of that, over one-third comes from schools. Most of it used to be sent to pig farms, but it’s not clear where it’ll go now.

Cho Jung-tai (Dec. 4, 2025)
Premier
We will assist farmers in changing to pig feed and ensure that the final deadline for transition—Dec. 31, 2026—is met as scheduled.

To prevent the spread of African swine fever, the government is banning the use of kitchen waste as pig feed from 2027. During the transition period this year, industrial food waste from restaurants, supermarkets, and cafeterias may be disposed of under certain conditions. But once all food scraps are lumped in with regular waste, combined transport and processing fees for a single cafeteria will cost at least NT$800,000 every month.

Chen Ming-hsin
Lunch box association chair
The collection cost for a 200kg barrel of food waste ranges between NT$300 and NT$700. So the financial impact on school cafeterias is fairly significant.

Although food scraps can still be fed to pigs at the moment, it’s only allowed under stringent conditions. Some farmers are upset, saying that mismanagement in one city has led to a nationwide ban.

Mr. Chen
Pig farmer
I actually think that feeding food scraps to pigs is best for everyone. In places like Taichung, the issue is in management. I think that the environmental protection and agriculture departments in every local government need to tighten their ships.

Local governments are exploring alternative solutions, such as enzymatic decomposition, bioenergy production, and composting with black soldier fly larvae. But the methods are still under development, and have odor issues. If there’s too much, the only answer is to burn it.

Lin Chien-san
Environmental Management Administration
It’ll take up about 5% of total incinerator capacity. Monitoring results show that dioxin concentrations are actually slightly lower than before the food waste was introduced.

Food scraps as pig feed will soon be a thing of the past. Where will it all go now? And is Taiwan ready?

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

#foodwaste #pigfeed #kitchenscraps #garbage #wastemanagement #ASF #Africanswinefever #pigfarming #cafeterias

2027年起嚴禁"廚餘養豬" 豬不吃廚餘成災難?

2026-04-20

「豬吃剩食」是古老的畜牧傳統，但在台灣即將走入歷史！為了徹底防堵非洲豬瘟，政府拍版明年起嚴禁廚餘養豬，不只是部分養豬業者得轉型，餐飲業者的清運成本將大幅增加；但目前各縣市的處理技術和量能，足以應付到時為數可觀的廚餘嗎？跟著民視採訪團隊鏡頭，一塊了解。

環境部統計，全台廚餘總量、每天將近1500公噸，其中校園團膳就佔超過1/3；過去這些熟廚餘多半送養豬場，未來還不知要流向哪。

[[行政院長卓榮泰(2025.12.4)]]
“協助業者順利轉型為飼料養豬，並確保全國轉型最後期限，115年12月31日如期完成”

為了防堵非洲豬瘟，政府宣布2027年起，全面禁止廚餘養豬。2026年過渡期間，來自餐飲業、賣場或團膳機構的事業廚餘有條件開放。一旦之後所有廚餘都視為廢棄物，運費加處理費，一家團膳業者每個月至少超過80萬元。

[[全國餐盒公會理事長陳明信]]
“一桶是200公斤的廚餘桶，一桶的收購的價格，從300到700塊不等，所以這部分，其實對於營養午餐的業者，其實成本的影響是相當大的”

就算目前還能餵豬，條件也很嚴格。有業者無奈，個別縣市疏於管理，卻害整個產業被禁。

[[養豬業者陳先生]]
“其實我覺得這是最低的社會成本，臺中那邊的話，就是因為他們有點像是疏於管理，我覺得是每個地方政府，應該是要環保局跟農業局，要上緊發條”

各縣市也尋找解方，像酵素分解、生質能、黑水虻等，但大多還在研發階段，還有氣味問題。如果廚餘過多，只能焚燒。

[[環境部環管署副署長林健三]]
“會佔掉我們整個那個，處理量的5%左右焚化處理量，那監測出來的結果，戴奧辛的濃度，事實上是比我們這個，所謂的有進去，沒有進去以前的，還稍低了一點”

廚餘養豬，即將成為歷史畫面，廚餘要何去何從，台灣真的準備好了嗎？

更多新聞內容，請鎖定：
民視台灣台（152頻道）週一至週五晚上9:30
民視新聞台（53頻道）週二至週六凌晨1:00

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You can borrow books for free at the library. But did you know that your borrowing also benefits writers and publishers?

That’s right, you can support writers even if you didn’t buy a personal copy. Public libraries could more or less affect book sales, but it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. The Ministry of Culture is piloting a Public Lending Right, or PLR scheme, covering 300 libraries in the country. Every time a physical book is checked out, the government offers a NT$3 subsidy, split 7:3 between the publisher and the writer or translator.

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I think it’s great, because it doesn’t cost me anything to borrow books from the library. At the same time, I get to receive knowledge from books and compensate writers.

On the program website, beneficiaries can see the number of times their titles were checked out and how much they can expect to receive. All the writer or translator has to do is to register the ISBN of their publications, and the system will automatically tally the number of times their works have been checked out.

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Only after registering on the system did I discover just how many times my works have been checked out, which really adds up. The new title section in stores looks different every two to three months. Now that you can find the books in libraries and check out the titles, you can actually support the authors and publishers. Sometimes it’s not about money. It’s more the realization that so many people are still willing to borrow my works, which is really touching.

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Publishers hope to see PLR written into law, so that the funds for the all-win solution for libraries, publishers, writers and translators won’t risk getting cut.

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Daylily Mountain residents deploy dogs to drive away hungry macaques

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Tsai Cheng-ming
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Cabbage doesn’t grow much during this season, so the dogs were just at home. We asked the neighbor if we could borrow them and brought the dogs to the trail. The growth this year has been pretty good. Some shoots are finally getting the chance to grow. We haven’t seen growth like this for 30 years.

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For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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Wu Ching-tien
Taichung City Police Department
He only called me 24 hours after the incident and admitted to it. His conduct was a serious misconduct, and as such he’s no longer fit to serve as the head of a precinct. He’s also received two demerits.

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Was it really so difficult to admit what you’ve done at the first instance? You’re a police officer. Why must you let your colleagues work so hard to look for the instigator and had people questioned, when it was you the whole time? What if you ended up hurting innocent passers-by?

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The perpetrator ended up being a high-ranking police officer, to everyone’s surprise.

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Hahaha!
Seeing everyone dancing,
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The response from fans was incredible. The gags, the atmosphere and the warmth were even better than what everyone was expecting.

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- Yes, I’m wearing them for the pitch.

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