Two Taiwanese companies taking part in the ongoing Bahrain Green Technology Expo praised the efforts of the kingdom in supporting environmental protection.

Both Chen Fong Environmental Engineering and DA.AI are showcasing what they are doing in the field of environmental protection at the event, which runs until tomorrow (March 15).

"Chen Fong Environmental specialises in producing food waste decomposers which create compost and in recycling glass and ceramics into bricks that are highly absorbent and hold water,” said company representative Tony Kang.

“DA.AI recycles plastic waste which they then turn into fabric for making a wide range of clothes and other products. We have the same goals as this event and that is to promote environmental responsibility.”

"This is everyone's responsibility and we are very pleased to be working with people in the vanguard of this along with Bahrain which has shown leadership in the region by organising this event.

"We are very proud of what our country is doing and also of what the Bahrain government is doing. We want to support them and help them to become a regional platform and centre of excellence for environmental protection in the Gulf,” he added.

Kang said the waste decomposer was a fairly new venture and they had only produced about 3,500 so far, but they hoped to produce a lot more and develop a larger venture which could be used by restaurants.

"We will be looking for partners here to try and set up a joint venture that could have the scale that would overcome the cost of sending a small number of these units from Taiwan," he said.

He added that their brick manufacturing, which provided a product which could release water back into soil in gardens, was over one year old and was now worth about $12 million a year."

DA.AI is an organisation largely run by volunteers and supported by entrepreneurs and was invited to the expo by the Bahrain government during a ministerial visit to Taiwan.

It was represented at the event by volunteer Larry Lee, who runs an IT software company called Weitei.

"What we do is design products that can be manufactured from recycled plastic and then, with the help of entrepreneurs who charge us a minimum price, create everything from bags to hats and shirts.

"We have this organisation working in 47 countries now and are looking for further expansion."

He said that all the profit from the operation went to the Tzuchi Foundation, which used the money to support charities, education, medicine and humanitarian programmes.

Meanwhile, two agreements have been signed between Bahrain and German companies to benefit from cutting edge green technologies as part of efforts to protect the environment and the wildlife, organisers said in a statement last night.

The number of pavilions at the event has exceeded 101, the organising committee said. The pavilions belong to ministries and government departments, in addition to companies from China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, France, Egypt, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The committee said that the number of pavilion representatives and exhibition topped 700.

His Majesty King Hamad's Personal Representative and President of the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa opened the event at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

The Commission is organising the event in co-operation with the UN Industrial Development Organisation.

Parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani, ministers, senior officials and guests attended the opening ceremony. – TradeArabia News Service