The government is to spend NT$1.2 billion (US$37.4 million) over three years to remove all garbage pileups by the end of 2026, the Ministry of Environment said yesterday.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) tapped Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) to volunteer the municipality’s excess garbage incineration capabilities for the betterment of the entire nation.
The ministry is ready to help coordinate logistics and efforts, should the Taipei City Government be willing, Peng said after a Cabinet meeting yesterday.
Photo: Taipei Times
Domestic incinerators have been undergoing maintenance and upgrades on a rotational basis since 2017, resulting in 840,000 tonnes of unburied trash nationwide, he said.
The ministry had allocated funds to subsidize local government efforts to fill landfills, and package and sort exposed trash, he said.
Hsinchu County has the nation’s greatest amount of unburied trash, Peng said, adding that the Hsinchu County Government’s newly built incinerator would be trialed at the end of the year.
Other counties with severe trash problems include Pingtung and Nantou, while Taoyuan accounts for 87,000 tonnes of unburied trash, he said.
Nantou County has been planning to build an incinerator to resolve its trash issues, with Nantou County Commissioner Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) claiming that the county needed more time.
Peng said the ministry would endeavor to provide any form of assistance possible.
Environmental Management Administration Director-General Yen Hsu-ming (顏旭明) said that there are currently 28 incinerators: 24 publicly owned ones, two in Taitung and Hualien counties established through collaboration with Taiwan Cement Co (台泥), and two more in Taoyuan and Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮).
The one under construction in Hsinchu County would be the 29th incinerator, Yen said, adding that it is expected to be completed this year.
Garbage disposal is the responsibility of the local governments, as the central government does not own any incinerators, Peng said.
However, he said he hoped some cities and counties with excess incinerator capacity would step up to help.
Citing excess garbage in New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and the inability of both municipalities to handle the situation, Peng urged Chiang to provide assistance.
Ultimately, counties and cities must start reducing trash and enforce categorization for recycling, Peng said, praising Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei’s (王惠美) inspection of garbage bags, which has helped reduce the county’s trash by 30 percent.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats