Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) challenger Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday debated the city’s garbage bag fee policy after Su proposed scrapping the fee if he was elected.
Discussing his campaign platform and municipal policies on Plurk, an online microblogging site that has become a popular campaign tool for local politicians, Su proposed canceling the “per bag trash collection fee” policy as household garbage volume in the city has been in decline.
“I am not against the policy, but I think we should stop charging the garbage bag fee when household garbage volume has successfully been decreased to a certain point,” Su said.
Hau, a former Environmental Protection Administration minister, however, defended the effectiveness of the policy on reducing the amount of garbage in the city and said Su was just trying to win over voters with his proposal.
“Mr Su has failed to understand that the policy is the key factor behind the reduction in the amount of garbage in Taipei. Opposing the policy is unbelievable and I think he proposed the idea only to woo voters,” Hau said at Taipei City Hall.
Taipei implemented the garbage policy in 2000 under then-mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). It requires residents to dispose of their non-recyclable garbage in designated bags, as a means to encourage recycling and to reduce the amount of trash.
According to the city government, household garbage volume fell from 2,970 tonnes per day in 2000 to 1,009 tonnes per day last year, a 67 percent decline.
Hau said the policy has enhanced city residents’ sense of environmental protection, which was why the city government was currently demonstrating the city’s achievements in garbage recycling and reduction at the World Expo in Shanghai.
“Cities all over the world are learning about the successful model from us and it makes no sense for us to go backwards,” Hau said.
Su yesterday also condemned the Hau administration for limiting the number of public trash cans around the city, a policy aimed at preventing residents from disposing of household garbage in public trash cans.
Su urged the city government to increase the number of public trash cans.
In response, Hau said the city government had installed 3,117 trash cans, which he said should be enough to meet needs of the public and that the number of trash cans in an area was allocated according to the number of local businesses and the number of people that travel through and live in the area.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
RSS