Jan 09, 2023
UMC founded the Eco Echo Award with the aim of raising awareness around biodiversity issues, and has attracted the support of many supply chain partners. In addition to supporting non-profit initiatives and student groups dedicated to ecological conservation, the 7th Eco Echo Award this year expanded to include the inaugural “Green Innovation” award, which recognizes projects related to waste reduction and circular economy.
This year’s awards, which was held in November, was supported by eight supply chain partners: 3M Taiwan, Edwards Technologies, Tokyo Electron Limited, Hermes-Epitek, Wholetech System Hitech, Faraday Technology, Taiyo Nippon Sanso Engineering Taiwan, and Unimicron Technology. With their sponsorships, the award funds raised this year reached NT$4 million and attracted 143 project submissions, a record high.
With its environmental and geographical uniqueness, the island of Taiwan has nurtured vibrant ecosystems and a diverse mix of flora and fauna resources, but these are increasingly threatened by climate change. Many groups in Taiwan have worked tirelessly to protect our environment, and UMC’s Eco Echo Award has supported a total of 53 initiatives since its conception in 2016. This year, the award’s scope has been extended to cover projects addressing climate change and circular economy. UMC is also assessing collaborationswith startups in the future on sustainable development applications, which we hope to demonstrate that business growth and environmental protection can go hand in hand.
This year's Eco Echo Award offered grants to 4 ecological conservation projects covering a wide variety of issues. The project proposed by TurtleSpot Taiwan, which won its first Eco Echo Award, proposed establishing a sea turtle ‘Household Registration Census’ by calling on enthusiasts to take photos and name each turtle they see. The Hengchun area's turtle inhabitant census is expected to be completed in 2023. Through this project, the group aims to raise awareness about sea turtle habitats and human impact on marine life.
The winning projects of the top prize for the youth category and the “Green Innovation” award both focused on reusing food waste. The first prize youth winner were students from National Taiwan Ocean University who developedself-powered streetlights that draw energy from hydrogen generated from food waste, and the students hope to bring these streetlights to rural and remote areas. Yuland Biological Agriculture Co.'s project is to breed black soldier flies that can convert food waste into animal feed and fertilizers. This project achieves the target of zero waste and helps make sustainable, circular resource management in agriculture and animal husbandry a reality.
For more information, please see Eco Echo Award’s official website:
Green Innovation Award
Project outline: Gaining a foothold in packaging material systems through innovative circular packaging methods; solving problems caused by disposable packaging.
Project outline: Using black soldier fly farming techniques to dispose of food waste and turn waste into animal feed and fertilizers, creating economic benefits.
Ecological Conservation Award / Grants for Ecological Conservation Projects
Project outline: Help the salt field wetlands in Budai, Chiayi County maintain a proper water level, thus providing habitats for waterbirds; and organize activities for ecological education promotion and volunteer training.
Project outline: Extend the scope of the turtle census from Xiaoliuqiu to the Hengchun area; connect and integrate information, to build up a turtle database and train citizen scientists.
Winning project: Eliminate invasive ants, protect crabs, and feed pangolins – we’re all ‘pangolin-it’ together!
Project outline: Eliminate invasive ant species in national parks; do the utmost to conserve pangolins and land crabs to enhance local biodiversity; work with communities and local groups to extend influence.
Project outline: Observe dolphins in the Kinmen area and keep the records, to build up a basis for research and conservation of their ecological environment in the future.
Ecological Conservation Award/Awards for Youth Environmental Initiatives
Why awarded: In the spirit of true science, used step-by-step testing and experiments to transform (what most people think of as) food waste into renewable energy; actualized creativity through action, giving explanations to others to create resonance.
Why awarded: Identify environmental problems in daily school life and activities; conduct comprehensive data collection and pre-research investigations; make further suggestions to booksellers to reduce unnecessary paper usage and avoid resource waste.
Why awarded: Used recycled oil to make handmade soap, realizing sustainable resource use, and gave away the soap to show care for society and raise environmental awareness.
Why awarded: Combined technology, graphics, and other techniques through physical and online channels to appeal to the younger generation and raise awareness globally.
Why awarded: Identified green food indicators, promoted green food maps, and integrated them into daily life to facilitate consumers' eco-friendly practices through everyday eating options.
Why awarded: Used actual actions by serving as docents to explain to the public the importance of biodiversity and knowledge about the survival indicators for tree lizards, to help conserve their habitats.
Why awarded: Personified old trees, and connected them with historical feelings to help cultivate people's affection for old trees, thereby creating win-wins for the environment and the local community.
Why awarded: Created real-time food maps and carried out diverse implementation techniques, including podcasts, videos, websites, etc., to expand influence.
Why awarded: Designed itineraries for small-scale green travel, for adults to take kids into the outdoors, based on the spirit of green eco-friendliness, within a pre-set budget limit.
Why awarded: Helped protect the painted snipes in Xikou Township, Chiayi County, and took real action to investigate their habitats and distribution. Also encouraged local young farmers to join their efforts in promoting products such as painted snipe rice, Bird Cakes, etc., using creative approaches and active practices.
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