During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck was unveiled at Greater Kaohsiung’s Glory Pier. This conceptual artwork has brought happiness to Greater Kaohsiung residents and enabled the municipality to be seen in a brand-new light. However, the implications the floating creation has for the relationship between humans and their environment are being ignored.
Hofman’s ducks used to be made from natural rubber, but since 2007, they have all been made from polyvinyl chloride, a plastic more commonly known as PVC. The duck in Greater Kaohsiung — the largest version made in Asia so far — was made from an extra-thick PVC plastic sheet 840m long and weighing more than 1,000kg.
The duck has brought Greater Kaohsiung’s hotels, restaurants and transport industry several hundred million dollars in business and is expected to generate a large amount of merchandise also made from PVC. Even libraries are rumored to be planning promotions to give toy ducks to book borrowers.
Products made from PVC contain large amounts of plasticizers and heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. These substances stop the duck sculpture from cracking as it weathers the elements and make it more pliable, but they can also lead to birth defects, lowered intelligence and neurological diseases among people that are exposed to them. The process of manufacturing PVC is also potentially hazardous, with carcinogenic toxins and pollutants often the byproducts.
Three years ago, it was revealed that the groundwater beneath Formosa Plastics’ petrochemical plant in Greater Kaohsiung’s Renwu Township (仁武) had levels of PVC ingredients such as ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride that were more than 302,000 times the legally allowed amount. It was reported that fixing the problem would take at least 20 years and would cost more than NT$700 million (US$23.7 million).
There have also been reports that workers in PVC factories suffer from higher rates of liver and kidney cancer than the general population. PVC is a material that is really bad for the environment, people’s health and future generations.
It is unfortunate that no arrangements were made with Hofman to use more environmentally friendly materials when the city was fighting to host the duck. However, it is not too late to take precautions for the future.
The Greater Kaohsiung Government can encourage the cultural and creative industries to develop products without using PVC, while the public sector can lead the way by doing things like not giving away PVC ducks and providing assistance in the centralized treatment of products made from the plastic to get the public to minimize PVC use and provide a healthier environment for future generations.
Extreme care must be taken to recycle Hofman’s duck properly when the exhibit concludes. It cannot under any circumstances be buried or burned at a low temperature, as this would release toxins such as dioxin into the environment.
What consumers can do to help minimize PVC use is to stop buying products made from the plastic and keep PVC ducks out of their bathtubs. They must ensure that their children do not put PVC products in their mouths.
By being vigilant and self-disciplined, the public is capable of greatly decreasing the amount of the plastic used in the nation, protecting plants and allowing future generations to grow up in a healthy environment.
This is what the giant rubber duck was meant to teach us about love and peace between humans and the environment.
Tsai Hui-hsun is president of Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan.
Translated by Drew Cameron
From the Iran war and nuclear weapons to tariffs and artificial intelligence, the agenda for this week’s Beijing summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is packed. Xi would almost certainly bring up Taiwan, if only to demonstrate his inflexibility on the matter. However, no one needs to meet with Xi face-to-face to understand his stance. A visit to the National Museum of China in Beijing — in particular, the “Road to Rejuvenation” exhibition, which chronicles the rise and rule of the Chinese Communist Party — might be even more revealing. Xi took the members
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Friday used their legislative majority to push their version of a special defense budget bill to fund the purchase of US military equipment, with the combined spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.78 billion). The bill, which fell short of the Executive Yuan’s NT$1.25 trillion request, was passed by a 59-0 margin with 48 abstentions in the 113-seat legislature. KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), who reportedly met with TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) for a private meeting before holding a joint post-vote news conference, was said to have mobilized her
The inter-Korean relationship, long defined by national division, offers the clearest mirror within East Asia for cross-strait relations. Yet even there, reunification language is breaking down. The South Korean government disclosed on Wednesday last week that North Korea’s constitutional revision in March had deleted references to reunification and added a territorial clause defining its border with South Korea. South Korea is also seriously debating whether national reunification with North Korea is still necessary. On April 27, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung marked the eighth anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration, the 2018 inter-Korean agreement in which the two Koreas pledged to
I wrote this before US President Donald Trump embarked on his uneventful state visit to China on Thursday. So, I shall confine my observations to the joint US-Philippine military exercise of April 20 through May 8, known collectively as “Balikatan 2026.” This year’s Balikatan was notable for its “firsts.” First, it was conducted primarily with Taiwan in mind, not the Philippines or even the South China Sea. It also showed that in the Pacific, America’s alliance network is still robust. Allies are enthusiastic about America’s renewed leadership in the region. Nine decades ago, in 1936, America had neither military strength
RSS