Taipei City's trash volume has dropped dramatically, while recycling has boomed since the city's new waste collection program began operating on Saturday, Taipei City Government officials said yesterday.
According to Stephen Shen (
The volume of recyclables dropped by 46 percent from 329 tonnes on Friday to 175 tonnes on Saturday. Nonetheless, Saturday's recyclables collection volume was substantially higher than the 1999 average daily volume of 74 tonnes and marks growth of the recycling rate from 2.5 percent to 10 percent of the total collection volume.
"The data indicates that the new program has gotten off to a good start. Credit should go to city residents who are well-informed and environmentally conscious," Shen said at the press conference yesterday.
Despite the favorable figures, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"We're not going to be content with the first day's performance, because, after all, this is a long-term program and we still need time to see how it's carried out," he said.
The city government on Saturday mobilized 5,300 people and over 3,700 garbage patrols to help oversee the first day of the program. Of the 139,000 bags collected yesterday, 1.3 percent were ordinary plastic shopping bags, and 1.5 percent were found illegally dumped outside designated sites.
Those found not using the regulation-sized bags face a fine of NT$1,200, and those caught using non-regulation bags and illegally dumping their garbage face a fine of NT$4,500. A total of 31 NT$4,500 tickets were issued yesterday, one to a foreign resident.
Ma said the city will keep up its heavy policing of the program for at least two more weeks.
"We don't expect the public to take the initiative in developing good habits. Sometimes you just need a little push," he said.
Although a number of people complained about not being able to purchase the required bags, especially packs of the 14-liter size, Ma said the city has provided direct delivery service to some convenience stores and expected the shortages to be sharply reduced.
"We urge the public to wait a bit to buy more bags because the 10 free 33-liter bags and NT$330 discount coupons handed out to each household are intended to be sufficient for three months worth of trash," Ma said.
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