Just 10 days before Taipei City implements its new garbage collection fee initiative, a broad coalition of scholars, city councilors and market vendors yesterday called for subsidies and exemptions.
Under the current garbage collection system, which charges according to water consumption, a public market has to pay about NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 a month for garbage fees. This is around NT$2 per month for each stall.
Under the new initiative, with payments related to the volume of trash produced, a public market has to pay as much as NT$300,000 to NT$700,000 per month. That means each booth has to pay around NT$38 per month, or 19 times more than it used to pay.
"About 80 to 90 percent of the garbage coming from public markets are perishables ... which doesn't fall into the category of ordinary garbage. If they're recyclable, then it's not fair to charge market vendors because there's no charge on recyclables," said KMT city councilor Li-Keng Kuei-fang (厲耿桂芳) at yesterday's public hearing.
Under the new program, no standardized bags are needed for recyclables. They can be put in plastic or paper shopping bags for collection.
Although no final decision was made at yesterday's public hearing, Li-Keng said the city council will hold another meeting on June 27, at which some decisions are expected to be made.
DPP city councilor Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) made a proposal that garbage fees should be frozen until the city maps out a better plan.
"It doesn't make sense for the city government to ask the vendors or consumers to shoulder the responsibility when it launches an ill-thought-out plan," he said.
KMT city councilor Chen Yung-te (
"When vendors cannot afford the garbage fee, they will inevitably turn on consumers and raise prices. It then becomes a bigger problem, so financing is a better idea," Chen said.
DPP city councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌), proposed a change to the overall design of the garbage bags.
"The bags for public markets should be exclusive. They should be more durable and the price more reasonable because they will be used in substantial quantity," he said.
National Taipei University of Technology environmental science professor Lin Yang-tai (林陽泰) recommended using buckets instead of bags to take care of perishables.
"It's good for the environment because the buckets are recyclable and the perishables can be made into fertilizers," he said.
The city has a total of 68 public retail markets and 28 public supermarkets.
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