Kaohsiung mulls pay-as-you-throw trash fee

高雄市考慮實施按量計算垃圾處理費

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kaohsiung may try out a pay-as-you-throw trash fee in one district after City Councilor Pai Chiao-yin (白喬茵) warned the city’s waste system is close to its limit, Commercial Times reported Tuesday.

Waste disputes have repeatedly flared up across the city in recent months, Pai said. The councilor accused the government of not cracking down sufficiently on repeat violators of waste rules.

Pai pointed out that Kaohsiung produces the most daily household waste per person among Taiwan’s major cities. She added that all four incinerators in the city are over 20 years old and could fail at any time, which might quickly lead to large trash piles.

She urged the city to roll out a pay-as-you-throw policy and teach residents how to sort recyclables so they produce less waste. She said even one incinerator breakdown could trigger new trash pileups.

In response, Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the city has tested the policy before and could bring it back on a larger scale. Chen said the city would move step by step and start in one district before expanding the system.

Taipei was the first city in Taiwan to roll out a long-term pay-as-you-throw policy after seeing its trash output surge in the 1980s. The city introduced designated trash bags in 2000 to encourage residents to sort more recyclables and cut down on waste through a simple user-pays rule, per PTS.