In order to be compassionate to the registered self-employed operators engaged in the resource recycling within the jurisdiction of Hualien County for their long-term efforts to maintain the cleanliness of the county’s environment and to recycle and sort resources, the Environmental Protection Bureau, Hualien County cooperated with the Environmental Protection Administration to increase the unit price of recycled material subsidies and the monthly subsidy from NT$3,500 to NT$5,000. In addition, on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival the rice produced locally in the county were sent to those registered self-employed resource recycling operators to show our gratitude.
 
Since August 1, 2019, the Environmental Protection Administration’s Warm Caring Program has been expanded to include self-employed resource recycling operators, whereas the participants were initially restricted to low- and middle-income households. At the same time, the recycling price of items with low-recycling rates are increased to the sales proceeds of NT$3,500 per person per month. However, due to the spread of COVID-19 this year (2020), resulting in even lower recycling prices, the subsidy is increased from NT$3,500 to NT$5,000 from May 1, 2020.
 
At present, the county's resource recycling caring plan subsidized 142 person-times in 2019, and the total amount of recycled resources received was about 80,189.1 kg. A total of 188 person-times were subsidized as of the end of May in 2020, and currently a total of 62,477.72 kg of recycled materials has been received. It is obvious that after the Environmental Protection Administration’s promotion of the Resource Recycling Caring Program, in addition to increasing the income of self-employed operators, it has also increased the recycling volume in Hualien County and kept the environment around Hualien County tidy.
 
Rao Chung, the major of the Hualien County Environmental Protection Bureau, said that the Environmental Protection Administration raises the unit price of recycling in 2020 to purchase recycled materials from self-employed operators at a price higher than the market price, which increases the income of self-employed resource recycling operators and provides services that facilitate recycling, and on the other hand it can maintain environmental cleanliness and improve recycling effectiveness. He also called on fellow folks to do resource recycling and sorting, reduce the amount of garbage, and jointly maintain Hualien’s environment.