Amid continued apprehension on the part of Taipei city councilors, Taipei's new garbage collection initiative got underway yesterday, following massive last-minute dumping which overwhelmed refuse handling workers.
City cleaning squads worked until midnight on Friday, and recycling teams until 5am yesterday to clear up garbage dumped at the last minute to avoid the new collection fees.
A record volume of trash, 5,815 tonnes, was collected, 60 percent more than the usual daily total of 3,000 tonnes, and 1,000 tonnes more than that of Thursday. The volume of recyclables increased fourfold from 70 tonnes to 270 tonnes.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Usually garbage trucks are full after visiting four or five collection sites; on Friday they were full after one.
Despite the overwhelming amounts of trash, DPP city councilor Wang Shih-chien (
"I think it will work. If it does, it will be the city's residents who will take the credit, not Mayor Ma, because they're well educated and are becoming more environmentally conscious," he said.
Wang seemed unimpressed with Ma's efforts to promote the initiative.
"Although the city plans to spend NT$530 million on publicity and Ma himself performed in a TV commercial, a survey conducted in June showed that about 60 percent of municipal officials still knew nothing about the scheme, and that 42 percent of the general public was confused as how to separate the garbage," he said.
Wang gave Ma credit on one point, however. "He gave it a good name -- `mission impossible,' which suits it," he said.
But Wang found several faults with Ma's attempt to publicize and popularize the initiative.
"He should have incorporated Taiwanese dialect into the commercial, because, after all, about 65 percent of the population speak Taiwanese, and he should have appealed to adults by inviting a more mature spokesperson, rather than a young rap singer."
New Party City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (
"A total of 4,000 bags were disposed of in 15 minutes yesterday, but today there were only 120 bags in 30 minutes," he said.
The decrease, Lee said, may have been because the residents had already discarded their trash on Friday, because they had had difficulties obtaining the new regualtion bags, or because they were still waiting to see how the scheme would work.
Residents with questions about the program may telephone the Bureau of Environmental Protection's hotline at 2720-6301 or call the agency's toll free number, 080-660-900.
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