TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s I-Mei Foods is showcasing its commitment to sustainable practices at the SDG Asia Expo, highlighting its use of recycled materials, forest conservation efforts, and energy-saving technologies.
The event, themed “Charge Towards Change,” runs through Saturday at the Taipei World Trade Center. Featuring more than 1,000 booths, it spotlights achievements in green technology, energy-efficient architecture, and sustainable living, with participants from government, business, medical institutions, and academia.
Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy Chair Eugene Chien (簡又新) attended Thursday’s opening ceremony. He said exhibitor numbers have grown nearly fourfold from last year and called for a faster global transition to clean energy, praising Taiwanese businesses and agencies for net-zero efforts.
I-Mei’s partner, Golden Saddle Machinery Co., has developed two off-peak ice-storage systems that significantly reduce energy use at its facilities, contributing to sustainable development and grid stability.
One system is containerized, built within a standard 40-foot shipping container. Each unit can store up to 56 tonnes of ice and support air conditioning for a 500-ping facility (about 1,650 square meters). It makes ice during off-peak nighttime hours and melts it during the day to cool the facility, cutting peak demand.
The other solution is a tank-based ice-storage system comprising five vertical tanks 9–21 meters tall. It also produces ice at night and uses stored cooling during the day, reducing peak power consumption by up to 30%.
I-Mei said the technology improves on traditional split-type air-conditioning used in the food industry. It features an integrated energy-management system for smart ice production, thermal-energy regulation, and peak-load shifting, with load forecasting and remote control suited to whole-building applications.
I-Mei plans to cut carbon emissions 50% across all facilities by 2030, with a long-term goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The company’s beverage cartons use Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. Caps and plastic seals on carton-packaged soy milk and fresh milk — produced with a Yunlin dairy partner — are made from sugarcane-derived bioplastic. I-Mei said these packaging changes cut carbon emissions by 35% and reduce printing-ink use.
The company has also partnered with the Kuan-Shu Educational Foundation and the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency to cultivate pesticide- and herbicide-free indigenous cinnamon trees in Taichung’s mountains. Leaves are used to make cookies, reducing reliance on imported cinnamon and promoting eco-friendly forest management.
Last year, I-Mei processed 41.5 tonnes of eggshells, turning them into reusable materials such as eggshell fragments and powder for calcium supplements. It also extracted eggshell membrane to produce collagen supplements, moving toward full-egg utilization.
Yunlin Magistrate Chang Li-shan (張麗善) and National Taiwan University environmental engineering professor Chiang Pen-chi (蔣本基) visited I-Mei’s booth and praised the company’s sustainability innovations and potential environmental benefits.
* I-Mei Foods is the parent company of Taiwan News
