Taipei's new garbage collection fee initiative takes effect today following a promotional campaign calling for residents' cooperation in turning the "mission impossible" facing refuse collectors into a mission accomplished.
The scheme takes off amid a blaze of criticism that the new measure is primarily politically motivated, too costly, and destined to lead to illegal dumping in Taipei County.
Under the scheme, charges for domestic waste will be based upon the volume of trash each individual household generates, as opposed to the current system, which bases fees on water consumption.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, LIBERTY TIMES
Only regulation-sized bags will be accepted for collection. People found not using such bags or dumping bags outside specified garbage collection points face fines of between NT$1,200 and NT$4,500. Those caught counterfeiting or selling unauthorized bags face fines of between NT$30,000 and NT$100,000.
Members of the public who inform the authorities of such illegal activities will receive 20 percent of the fines collected in the event of a successful prosecution.
Each household should have already received 10 33-liter garbage bags free of charge plus discount coupons totaling NT$330 for additional bag purchases.
The coupons may be exchanged for approved garbage bags at supermarkets and convenience stores before Aug. 31.
Recyclables, such as cans, jars, newspapers and clothes, are to be put in ordinary plastic or paper shopping bags for collection.
According to Hong Cheng-chung (
The city's 870,000 households create a combined 3,000 tonnes per day, while its 230,000 industrial and commercial units generate roughly 400 to 500 tonnes a day.
Ninety percent of the refuse goes to the city's three incinerators in Peitou, Neihu and Mucha districts, while the remaining 10 percent goes to Taipei's second landfill site at Shanchuku, Nankang district.
The first landfill in Futekeng, Mucha, is already full and the location of the third landfill -- which the city government hopes to operate at Neikou in Neihu, still awaits City Council approval.
Garbage has long been both an eyesore for the public and an administrative headache for the city's mayors. When President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) held the post of Taipei mayor, he adopted a "keep trash off the ground" program (垃圾不落地), which drew criticism at first but gradually gained support and was ultimately successful. Although some residents still complain about having to come out at specific times to dispose of their garbage, most said Taipei became noticeably cleaner as a result of the initiative.
The current garbage plan was in fact first tested under Chen's administration, but was widely regarded as a failure at the time. Politically unpopular, it did not succeed in securing the public's cooperation.
New Party City Councilor Chin Li-fang (
"He should have tested it on the entire city rather than on just a few boroughs," she said.
Ma's considerations
Despite having taken office one-and-a-half years ago, Ma is widely thought to have yet to distinguish himself as mayor. Speculation has mounted that he may be gambling his political career on the success of the scheme. DPP City Councilor Chou Po-ya (
"The new scheme is neither part of Ma's policy nor of his political platform. It's a decision made by the City Council over a year ago ... he is obliged to make it work," he said. If the project fails, Chou said, it is the city government's fault.
Chin said: "Because Ma and his team are not good at putting on political shows, I don't think he is taking advantage of the opportunity to do so."
She said it was unlikely that Ma would seek to make political capital out of the success of a scheme which had first been tested under a predecessor from a rival party, but added, "The timing is just right for him to push for such a significant project because things may get more complicated closer to an election."
Ma faces reelection in December 2002.
The new initiative has drawn criticism from consumers, schools, public markets and residents of Taipei County.
One of the major concerns of both consumers and public markets is the handling of perishables, which accounts for 30 to 40 percent of all garbage generated per household and 80 to 90 percent of that disposed of by public markets.
The city decided on Tuesday to extend its previous system for another six months for public markets only, after city councilors and market vendors called for trash subsidies and exemptions on June 19.
Under the new system, public markets will pay between NT$300,000 to NT$700,000 each per month on trash fees, in some cases as much as 19 times more than they used to pay.
Trials of the scheme as it applies to perishables have been carried out in two boroughs in Neihu, involving 5,000 households.
The city hopes to finish its compost processing facility in Shanchuku, Neihu this September and plans to have it operational by January. It is expected to handle 900,000 tonnes of perishables daily.
Formosa Plastics Group -- which has similar facilities throughout Taiwan -- has also expressed an interest in becoming involved in the scheme.
A major concern for schools is outside garbage dumped on their grounds and the subsequent possibility of skyrocketing garbage fees.
"Because our campus is open to the public, we often see garbage which originated from outside dumped in our bins," said Chang Ching-chu (
Lin Hsiu-chen (林秀珍), principal of Hungtao Junior High School (弘道國中), said she hoped the Bureau of Education would either subsidize school garbage fees or make adequate allowances for it within school budgets.
According to Lin, the school currently pays about NT$18,000 a month in garbage fees, but expects to pay approximately NT$120,000 a month in the future.
Easing the pain
To help with these difficulties, the Bureau of Education has decided to issue, free of charge, 40,000 92-liter garbage bags a month to the city's schools.
Anticipating the problem of illegal dumping on school grounds,around one year ago the city government completed a NT$50 million program to install surveillance cameras in urban schools.
But schools wishing to install additional cameras must raise their own funds to do so.
Outside the city, residents of Taipei County fear invasions by city residents seeking to evade charges by crossing into the county to dump their garbage.
In a move aimed at preventing this, the BEP is to deploy a 2,000-strong garbage patrol team to monitor major county-city boundary points.
Taipei County's Bureau of Environmental Protection will also deploy a daily, 24-hour garbage patrol at 25 county-city boundary points, commencing this afternoon.
Chan Chang-chuan (
DPP lawmaker Lai Chin-lin (
Amid a plethora of different approaches to the problems, reductions in trash volume and the recycling of resources -- two of the main goals of Taipei's new initiative -- are central objectives of refuse disposal schemes worldwide.
Foreign residents in Taipei have been comparing the scheme unfavorably with others elsewhere in the world before it has even begun.
Jeff Takacs, a US citizen, said that a bottle recycling law in his home state of Wisconsin, which in the 1980s introduced payments of US$0.10 (about NT$3) per bottle for glass, metal and plastic, has brought about a drastic reduction in garbage volumes.
"People don't care about the environment but they care about money," he said. Takacs also called for the amount of packaging used in Taiwan to be reduced.
"I haven't seen as many plastic bags anywhere in the universe as I've seen in Taiwan," he said. "Everything is wrapped three or four times, and that's ultimately why I think this initiative will fail," he said.
The city started imposing fines for illegal dumping as early as last Thursday, but Takacs questioned the feasibility of enforcing the law.
Vitas Raskevicius, a Canadian who has been living here for almost three years, agreed.
"You have to target not just the end-user, but the entire chain of garbage production," he said. In Germany, where Raskevicius lived for nine years, stores are obliged by law to take wrapping back, free of charge, if the customer considers it excessive, he said.
"People generally ... don't like things that have so much wrapping because they know it's bad, but here it seems to be the opposite," he said.
According to Raskevicius, people in Germany either carry their own shopping bags or must pay extra for them.
Certain specified recyclable articles are also put into special bags which are collected on designated days. The recycling of organic materials for the production of fertilizers is a major feature of German refuse processing he said.
If Mayor Ma really is gambling his political career on the success of the new initiative, then such constructive criticism comes too late to be of assistance to him.
As to the prospects for the scheme's success, time will tell whether the new garbage initiative will succeed or whether a combination of high fees and rampant illegal dumping will conspire to kill it.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
RSS