Over 40 Taipei borough wardens yesterday blasted city officials for what they said have been vague explanations to the public about new volume-based garbage collection charges set to be implemented next month.
Under the new initiative, garbage collectors will only accept regulation-sized garbage bags and charges for collecting domestic waste will depend on individual household volume. The scheme will replace the current system under which a household pays waste disposal charges according to its consumption of water.
From April to June of this year, the city's Bureau of Environmental Protection (BEP) will give away free 33-liter garbage bags, plus discount coupons of NT$330 for bag purchases to each household. Residents will be able to use their own bags if they wish.
After July, when the program is officially launched, only regulation-sized bags will be accepted for collection, city officials said.
But during a public hearing yesterday, over 40 boroughs from the city's Wenshan and Ta-an districts criticized city officials for failing to clearly explain the rationale behind the new policy.
"Although the reform is fair, it's a pity that many of my counterparts still don't understand it. BEP officials should be blamed for this," said Lai Hsien-sung (
Chen Erh-ai (
Chen said that under the current system, for example, the average monthly garbage fees per household range from NT$250 to NT$400. But under the new initiative, the average monthly fee per household will be around NT$150 or less.
"You have to articulate the economic advantages of the new system to entice residents to follow suit," Chen said.
Representatives from some boroughs also said they have no idea where to collect the free bags from April to June or where to purchase the standardized bags after that time.
Stephen Sheng (沈世宏), director of the environmental protection bureau, defended the new initiative.
"The current system is not fair, because the extent of water a household consumes has little to do with the garbage it produces. But the new system will enable residents to learn that the fees paid are contingent upon the amount of garbage they produce. This serves as a direct incentive to entice residents to reduce the amount of garbage they create," he said.
Sheng cited South Korea as an example. By 1998, he said, the total amount of garbage created in the country had been reduced by about 40 percent of the 1995 level, the year the volume-based garbage charge system was first introduced there.
Sheng also said the bureau would establish a market network to sell the standardized garbage bags that come in six different sizes: 5-liter, 14-liter, 33-liter, 45-liter, 76-liter and 92-liter.
"We want to make sure that each of the city's 435 boroughs will have at least three selling points," Sheng said, adding that chain stores such as 7-11 and Family Mart, plus some supermarkets have agreed to join the network.
He also admitted that it's important to keep residents well informed of the initiative before it's officially under way.
"We'll hold seminars to explain the policy in each of the boroughs starting in April," he said, adding that advertisements on TV, the MRT and public buses to publicize and explain the initiative would be run.
"Taipei City is the first place in Taiwan where this initiative is to be implemented. So whether this policy succeeds or not will affect whether other cities will follow suit," he said.
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