When Gottfried Mayer of Germany moved to Peitou District two years ago, he thought that its clean air and beautiful green mountain would help him concentrate on his research and teaching.
But ironically, what he found was a remote area that provides an ideal place for his neighbors to burn their garbage.
"Instead of taking the trash to the garbage truck, they pile it up for two weeks or so and start to burn it," Mayer said, pointing to the freshly scorched pile outside his apartment building.
With the help of his landlord and friends who speak Chinese, Mayer says he has contacted the police, the environmental auditor and written to the mayor's office.
"One time they even sent a big fire engine to douse the fire. That was just a waste of taxpayers' money," he said. "Anyway, the cycle started anew in two weeks' time after the authorities left."
On March 20, Mayer got into a verbal dispute with one of his neighbors who had tried to burn garbage near his house.
"After failing to douse the fire with a water hose myself, I called the police. They took down the person's name and address and told me that they would write a report about the case," he said.
It turned out that the police failed to report the case or to pass information about the matter to the environmental protection bureau.
"I trusted them to take care of the case seriously, but they just threw the case into the garbage bin," he said. "If they were not authorized to take care of the matter, they should've told me in the first place instead of lying to me in front of my face."
Mayer said that he has also started to take pictures of those who burn garbage in his neighborhood. His aggressive efforts, however, have gotten him into trouble.
The most recent problem was on the night of June 4 when a gang of some 20 local residents gathered outside his apartment building, complaining about his attempt to photograph a 60-year-old woman who was burning her trash.
According to Mayer's landlord, who refused to be identified, the group and the police finally came to an agreement that no garbage burning would be allowed in the future, although a bit of grass burning would be tolerated.
"I feel so ashamed to see our own people care so little about our land. I'm also very disappointed with the city government and the way it handled the matter," the landlord said.
Although Wang Ta-chun (王大鈞), first division chief of the environmental protection bureau, said that there is little the bureau can do but to issue tickets to offenders and to conduct more aggressive patrols, he promised to send some people to take care of Mayer's problem.
Air pollution law stipulates that burning garbage outdoors carries a fine of between NT$5,000 and NT$100,000. The fine increases to NT$10,000 for second offenders and NT$15,000 for third offenders.
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