The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) urged the public to rethink the tradition of barbecuing on Mid-Autumn Festival, citing past statistics showing holiday barbecues had driven up the nation’s carbon levels by about 30 percent and were a major source of air pollution.
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, and was celebrated yesterday.
An EPA study from 2006 showed that carbon monoxide measurements taken from an air quality survey station in the then-Taipei County’s Banciao (板橋) doubled from 0.42 to 0.84 parts per million (ppm) on the eve of the festival, while the density of particulate matters in the district increased by 1.25 times.
Survey stations in Sindian (新店), Tucheng (土城) and Sinjhuang (新莊) in the county, which is now New Taipei City, also recorded elevated measurements of pollutants.
According to the EPA, a household of four consumes approximately 1kg of coal while barbecuing, which in turn emits about 3.7kg of carbon dioxide, which when multiplied by 30 percent of the total population — the EPA’s estimation of the ratio of people barbecuing on the holiday — amount to 6,382.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the holiday, the equivalent of the total emissions prevented during 36 nationwide “lights-off” events.
The EPA said there are healthier ways to celebrate the holiday rather than having a barbecue.
EPA Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substances Director-General Yuan Shao-ying (袁紹英) said attending concerts or galas were preferable, adding that most municipalities have regulations on park management and autonomy that pan barbecuing in parks.
If people still opt for barbecues, Yuan suggested using white charcoal, which he said can be completely consumed and contains less impurities, and avoid using coal from questionable sources.
Coal that burns faster and heats up more easily typically emit polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a non-biodegradable persistent organic pollutant on the EPA’s list of type A toxic substances and a UN-listed carcinogen, Yuan said, adding that if coals shatter easily, they are likely of inferior quality.
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