Taiwanese potty-train pigs to lessen pollution 14 Dec 2009
Pig producers in southern Taiwan have started a new initiative to potty-train their pigs in response to a planned water pollution fee, breeders and officials said Monday.
A growing number of farms have established special "toilets" smeared with faeces and urine to attract the pigs to stop them defecating into nearby rivers. Farmers say the results have been very encouraging.
"The pig toilets on my farm help me collect about 95% of all pig waste, making cleaning much, much easier," Chang Chung-tou, a pig farmer in Yunlin county, told AFP.
The Environmental Protection Administration, which will introduce a new fee on water pollution in the middle of 2010, plans to encourage other pig breeders to begin potty training.
"Apart from Yunlin, we have launched trial pig toilets in Changhua county (in central Taiwan). We are evaluating the results," an official from the administration said.