Taiwan’s night markets never fail to attract huge crowds, and with them huge amounts of trash, a problem that about 37,000 volunteers aim to put in the spotlight tomorrow when they clean up 86 night markets across the country as part of the international Clean Up the World campaign.
Organizers say the synchronized cleanup aims to promote environmental awareness alongside responsible tourism by giving the popular night markets a fresh face.
More than 40 percent of people in Taiwan visit a night market at least once a month, but nearly half of those visitors complain that the generally narrow, packed locations are untidy, said the Good Neighbor Foundation, the organization behind the cleanup initiative.
The foundation has invited people from all walks of life to take part in the initiative, which will also feature family-friendly activities and raffles. The majority of registered participants are students, though the oldest applicant is 80 and the youngest just four.
Now in its 12th year of holding the event, the foundation said previous cleanups had drawn nearly 400,000 volunteers who collected more than 90,000 bags of garbage.
More information on the event is available at www.cleanuptheworld.org.tw/index.asp.
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