The EPA has put out a short film highlighting some of their accomplishments over the years. While obviously a bit propagandic, the first third is also a pretty frank and graphic look at the problem of garbage in the 80s. Just watch the first few minutes to see the massive piles of trash that used to exist on street, well I was going to say corners, but the piles really took up entire blocks.
Good for newbies to see to get a sense of just how far the country has come in two decades when it really isn’t all that apparent at the moment.
Around the 3-4 minute mark the video talks about Chungli which was notorious for garbage. I remember the KFC by the train station having a pile 5m high and about 3m across at one point in the mid-90s during a summer strike. Nope, I never ate there.
DPP Legislative Yuan candidate Lo Chih-cheng is trying to force a referendum on abolishing the system of paid trash bags in Xinbei. Of course, this policy was first introduced in Taipei City by Chen Shui-bian and has been very successful in reducing waste. Shame that a DPP candidate is pandering to populism to gain a few extra votes, I hope he doesn’t get elected.
It isn’t? Eh? EH? It absolutely IS. No question that it is one of the singular biggest things to make this soupstain in the Taiwan Strait just a tiny bit more bearable. The idea that some fucking dweeb is waving his tiny wee cock and saying “NO!” is a bit of a fly in the ointment, sure, but hey! EVERYONE needs to wave their wee pee-pee around, even if there’s nothing to actually wave. And people will see this and know it and he won’t get elected. Unless he has enough money. Which he doesn’t. He’s DPP – Dirty Piss-sucking Politicians. Safe. We can continue to have cleaner streets. THANK YOU, DPP! You are truly the saviours of Taiwan.
Only sandman could bring little willies into the discussion THAT fast! Reductio ad knobellus?
But yeah … generally speaking, Taiwan has a fairly good system for dealing with garbage, and it certainly is quite an achievement given that most countries on the planet simply can’t be arsed. The pay-per-use system for garbage disposal is an excellent idea.
It isn’t? Eh? EH? It absolutely IS. No question that it is one of the singular biggest things to make this soupstain in the Taiwan Strait just a tiny bit more bearable. The idea that some fucking dweeb is waving his tiny wee cock and saying “NO!” is a bit of a fly in the ointment, sure, but hey! EVERYONE needs to wave their wee pee-pee around, even if there’s nothing to actually wave. And people will see this and know it and he won’t get elected. Unless he has enough money. Which he doesn’t. He’s DPP – Dirty Piss-sucking Politicians. Safe. We can continue to have cleaner streets. THANK YOU, DPP! You are truly the saviours of Taiwan. [/quote]
Er, I mean it is not apparent to newbies that Taiwan is an immensely cleaner place than even a decade ago. It still can be a dismally dirty dingy place at times compared to the west.
And not sure why we need to make this a bash on one party or the other.
Because Xindian people think it is their matsu-given right to litter the mountains with their trash. Politicians have to conceded and pander to local realities at times, even if it is against general party policies. Do you seriously think it is something he will do once in power? Do you seriously think anyone will care either way?
Is garbage policy even handled by the legislative or is it a city matter? Has the bag policy been as effective in Xinbei as in Taibei? You do know that worldwide studies show that such policies are not uniformly effective and they can be very ineffective in areas where it’s easy to dump your garbage. Lots of poor mountainous areas of Xinbei.
In any case, I don’t know, and neither do you. You seem to have read a headline somewhere. Anything substantial on this?
[quote] “The beauty of New Taipei City is its diversity, but this can be difficult to manage,” Lo says.
For example, tasks that may be easy for Taipei to carry out, such as using standard garbage bags and having uniform garbage collection practices, maybe difficult for New Taipei City, where many people live in small communities in remote rural areas and may be accustomed to simply dumping their trash.[/quote]
In case you missed it, what he is saying was what many of Fcom argued when the bag policy was started in Xinbei.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]Hmm, as I suspected. From an Amcham, article:
[quote] “The beauty of New Taipei City is its diversity, but this can be difficult to manage,” Lo says.
For example, tasks that may be easy for Taipei to carry out, such as using standard garbage bags and having uniform garbage collection practices, maybe difficult for New Taipei City, where many people live in small communities in remote rural areas and may be accustomed to simply dumping their trash.[/quote]
In case you missed it, what he is saying was what many of Fcom argued when the bag policy was started in Xinbei.[/quote]
That is just for foreigner consumption. Why would he care about people in the rural areas of Xinbei? Lo is standing for a heavily urbanized constituency in Banqiao. He has been travelling around the wet markets in the area trying to drum up support for his ridiculous proposal. He says the bags are too expensive and that poor people can’t even afford to dispose of their rubbish any more - ignoring the fact that the money has come off the water bill.
[quote=“Mawvellous”][quote=“Muzha Man”]Hmm, as I suspected. From an Amcham, article:
[quote] “The beauty of New Taipei City is its diversity, but this can be difficult to manage,” Lo says.
For example, tasks that may be easy for Taipei to carry out, such as using standard garbage bags and having uniform garbage collection practices, maybe difficult for New Taipei City, where many people live in small communities in remote rural areas and may be accustomed to simply dumping their trash.[/quote]
In case you missed it, what he is saying was what many of Fcom argued when the bag policy was started in Xinbei.[/quote]
That is just for foreigner consumption. Why would he care about people in the rural areas of Xinbei? Lo is standing for a heavily urbanized constituency in Banqiao. He has been travelling around the wet markets in the area trying to drum up support for his ridiculous proposal. He says the bags are too expensive and that poor people can’t even afford to dispose of their rubbish any more - ignoring the fact that the money has come off the water bill.[/quote]
Well, that does sound like classic pandering. But your criticism also sounds suspiciously like all the bleating I heard from blue friends during the Taipei mayoral election. Yes, focus on some minor dumb environmental proposal of Su’s and ignore that under Hau and Ma every chance to turn a large area into a park has been rejected for the sake of developers, and hundreds of old trees have been killed under their misguided policies.
Looking at the bigger picture I believe a DPP admin, or legislative majority, will be better for the environment so the presence of one legislator with a kooky idea should on balance still produce a superior result.
Btw, what are the environmental policies of Lo’s political rivals in this race?
That is just for foreigner consumption. Why would he care about people in the rural areas of Xinbei? Lo is standing for a heavily urbanized constituency in Banqiao. He has been travelling around the wet markets in the area trying to drum up support for his ridiculous proposal. He says the bags are too expensive and that poor people can’t even afford to dispose of their rubbish any more - ignoring the fact that the money has come off the water bill.[/quote]
Well, that does sound like classic pandering. But your criticism also sounds suspiciously like all the bleating I heard from blue friends during the Taipei mayoral election. Yes, focus on some minor dumb environmental proposal of Su’s and ignore that under Hau and Ma every chance to turn a large area into a park has been rejected for the sake of developers, and hundreds of old trees have been killed under their misguided policies.
Looking at the bigger picture I believe a DPP admin, or legislative majority, will be better for the environment so the presence of one legislator with a kooky idea should on balance still produce a superior result.
Btw, what are the environmental policies of Lo’s political rivals in this race?[/quote]
Hardly a minor proposal was it though? The environmental impact would have been far greater than one developmental project.
As for Lo’s rivals.
The China Times report I read said that the incumbent KMT legislator has done a lot of work trying to clean up the area, but has also attracted some criticism for this. Although the area is 55-45 blue, the blue camp has split giving Lo a chance in a three-horse race.
But then that was a China Times report - maybe someone who understands Banqiao politics better can fill in.
That is just for foreigner consumption. Why would he care about people in the rural areas of Xinbei? Lo is standing for a heavily urbanized constituency in Banqiao. He has been travelling around the wet markets in the area trying to drum up support for his ridiculous proposal. He says the bags are too expensive and that poor people can’t even afford to dispose of their rubbish any more - ignoring the fact that the money has come off the water bill.
Well, that does sound like classic pandering. But your criticism also sounds suspiciously like all the bleating I heard from blue friends during the Taipei mayoral election. Yes, focus on some minor dumb environmental proposal of Su’s and ignore that under Hau and Ma every chance to turn a large area into a park has been rejected for the sake of developers, and hundreds of old trees have been killed under their misguided policies.
Looking at the bigger picture I believe a DPP admin, or legislative majority, will be better for the environment so the presence of one legislator with a kooky idea should on balance still produce a superior result.
Btw, what are the environmental policies of Lo’s political rivals in this race?[/quote]
Hardly a minor proposal was it though? The environmental impact would have been far greater than one developmental project.
As for Lo’s rivals.
The China Times report I read said that the incumbent KMT legislator has done a lot of work trying to clean up the area, but has also attracted some criticism for this. Although the area is 55-45 blue, the blue camp has split giving Lo a chance in a three-horse race.
But then that was a China Times report - maybe someone who understands Banqiao politics better can fill in.
Smart reply, lymeman. But in the aggregate there is little doubt the Democrats are better for the environment. I would argue that in the case in Taiwan, the same can be said for the DPP as well. Taipei was first cleaned up under CSB. Ktown got potable water and clean rivers under the DPP. Miraculous how they accomplished more in 6 years than the KMT had in 50.
Tainan is immensely better and cleaner and livable now. Compare to Taichung or Taoyuan, KMT strongholds and among the least progressive urban parts of the country.
But go ahead, and believe all parties are the same, and it makes no difference. Sarah Palin, Obama. Meh. Lien Chan, Chen. Meh.
Me, I know we live in a fallen realm, and the choice is not between perfect and bad, but better and worse.
Nonsense. Those areas are gone for good as green spaces, as co2 filters, to say nothing of all the garbage and pollution caused during their construction.
The larger issue though is that a kmt majority have shown not the slightest interest in passing a proper land use bill. We know this was a key DPP policy under Chen but was blocked by the blue legislative. Still, the executive branch used the power it had though to prevent development in certain areas. Remember how they tried to close down the fruit farming in Lishan? Would have been a done deal if the DPP had won the presidency but Ma promised he would reopen the area. He did. I’m sure Taichung people are happy having mass loads of pesticides wash down into their sources of drinking water again.
[quote]
As for Lo’s rivals.
The China Times report I read said that the incumbent KMT legislator has done a lot of work trying to clean up the area, but has also attracted some criticism for this. [/quote]
You are not seriously suggesting that one development project will cause as much environmental damage as all the extra landfill and waste incineration necessitated by Su’s proposal?
Su also spend much of the election campaign attacking Hau’s cycle lanes and bus lanes. While he was right to criticize the planning of the Dunhua cycle lane, he didn’t offer any alternatives to encourage sustainable transport.
[quote]
As for Lo’s rivals.
The China Times report I read said that the incumbent KMT legislator has done a lot of work trying to clean up the area, but has also attracted some criticism for this. [/quote]
Yeah of course I approached it with scepticism, which is why I asked for the views of anyone who knows the area better.
But given that Lo seems to be running on an anti-environmental platform, maybe it makes some sense.
There is actually such a thing as an “anti-environmental platform”? What do they do, organise tree-burning picnics and DDT-spraying events? Fun for all the family, and educational too. Clean air and water is for pussies! Down with the environment!
