Taichung Sanitation Worker Takes Recycled Cookware Home for Art Project, Prosecuted for 'Embezzling' NT$4.092

At the end of last year, a sanitation worker in Taipei City was prosecuted and sentenced to three months in prison (with a two-year suspended sentence) for giving away a recycled electric pot worth only NT$32 to an elderly scrap collector. The case triggered widespread social controversy. Now, a similar incident has emerged in Taichung City. A sanitation worker surnamed Zhang from the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau took discarded pots, metal trays, and other recyclable items left by residents and brought them home for personal use and artistic creation. He later turned himself in to the Anti-Corruption Agency. An investigation found that the 12.4 kilograms of recycled materials he improperly took home had a calculated value of NT$4.092. Recently, prosecutors indicted him on suspicion of embezzlement but have requested the court to consider exemption from punishment or a suspended sentence.

According to the investigation, Zhang has been working since 2019 as a temporary employee in the sanitation team of Taichung City Government’s Environmental Protection Bureau, responsible for driving a recycling truck. Between March and November 2024, during his duties sorting recyclables, he packed up 12 pots, one metal tray, one spatula, and one spoon—totaling 12.4 kilograms—and took them home. There, he assembled them into creative works made from cooking utensils. In February 2025, Zhang voluntarily surrendered to the Anti-Corruption Agency and was subsequently referred for legal proceedings.

Zhang admitted to using his official position to appropriate the recyclable items for personal gain. Prosecutors emphasized that recyclables collected by sanitation teams as part of public duties must be sorted and handed over to contracted environmental companies for weighing and sale. The revenue generated is then deposited into the 'Taichung City Resource Recycling Sales Revenue Special Account' and must not be privately taken.

Based on the auction price of recyclable waste at NT$0.33 per kilogram, prosecutors determined that the total value of the 12.4 kilograms of materials Zhang took was NT$4.092. While Zhang is suspected of violating the Anti-Corruption Act for 'embezzling non-public property held in an official capacity,' the amount involved is under NT$50,000. He has already returned the illicit gains, his motive was not particularly malicious, the financial loss was minimal, and the harm to public order was limited. Having demonstrated remorse during the investigation, he meets the criteria for reduced sentencing, exemption from punishment, or a suspended sentence—prosecutors have thus requested the court to exempt him from punishment.