Tag: garbage dump

  • ‘Til trash do us part: Taiwan couple embraces garbage wedding shoot

    ‘Til trash do us part: Taiwan couple embraces garbage wedding shoot

    A Taiwanese couple decked out in a tux and gown embrace in front of a mountain of trash in an unorthodox wedding photo – one the environment-conscious bride hopes will discourage her guests from generating unnecessary garbage.

    Greenpeace campaigner Iris Hsueh and her fiance are having their “environmentally friendly wedding” in January, and have asked guests to bring their own containers for taking home leftovers.

    Deciding that showing – not telling – was a more effective communication method, the Taipei-based couple travelled three hours south for a photo shoot in Nantou county’s Puli township, where the amount of trash brought to a local dump has steadily risen over the years.

    “If any guests are not willing to bring along a container, I would show them the photograph and say, ‘would you reconsider?’” the 33-year-old told AFP, adding that the photos ended up drawing local media attention.

    “I didn’t think it would create such a big sensation.”

    Self-ruled Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, has had a recycling programme since 1987, with over 50 per cent of household trash processed through the system – among the highest rates in the world.

    But Puli township’s sanitation crew chief Chen Chun-hung said the amount of garbage there has mushroomed – back in the 1980s, it was about 20 tonnes a day; now, its about 50.

  • Trash on Everest to be turned into art to highlight mountain’s garbage problem

    Trash on Everest to be turned into art to highlight mountain’s garbage problem

    Trash collected from Mount Everest is set to be transformed into art and displayed in a nearby gallery, to highlight the need to save the world’s tallest mountain from turning into a dumping site.

    Used oxygen bottles, torn tents, ropes, broken ladders, cans, and plastic wrappers discarded by climbers and trekkers litter the 8,848.86 metre (29,032 feet) tall peak and the surrounding areas.

    Tommy Gustafsson, project director and a co-founder of the Sagarmatha Next Centre – a visitors’ information centre and waste up-cycling facility – said foreign and local artists will be engaged in creating artwork from waste materials and train locals to turn trash into treasures.

    “We want to showcase how you can transform solid waste to precious pieces of art … and generate employment and income,” Gustafsson told Reuters. “We hope to change the people’s perceptions about the garbage and manage it.”

    The Centre is located at an altitude of 3,780 metres at Syangboche on the main trail to Everest base camp, two days’ walk from Lukla, the gateway to the mountain.

    It is due for “soft opening” to locals in the spring as the number of visitors could be limited this year due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Gustafsson said.

    Products and artwork will be displayed to raise environmental awareness, or sold as souvenirs with the proceeds going to conservation of the region, he said.

    Trash brought down from the mountain or collected from households and tea houses along the trail is handled and segregated by a local environmental group, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, but the task in a remote region that has no roads is a huge challenge.

    Garbage is dumped or burned in open pits, causing air and water pollution as well as contamination of soil.

    IN PICTURES: Nepali mountaineers first to summit K2 in winter

    Phinjo Sherpa, of the Eco Himal group involved in the scheme, said under a “carry me back” initiative, each returning tourist and guide will be requested to take a bag containing one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of garbage back to Lukla airport, from where the trash will be airlifted to Kathmandu.

  • Both Buzdar and Shehbaz agree on Lahore becoming ‘garbage dump’

    Both Buzdar and Shehbaz agree on Lahore becoming ‘garbage dump’

    Amid growing heaps of trash across Punjab, former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government turned the province, especially Lahore, into a garbage dump.

    The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president made these comments during a hearing of a graft case against him at an accountability court in Lahore.

    Shehbaz remarked that he had saved billions of rupees while signing a contract with the Lahore Waste Management Company. However, the judge stopped Shehbaz from making any further comments, saying it is a “courtroom, not a conference hall”.

    Shehbaz was apparently responding to the allegations made by the Punjab CM’s aide on information, Firdaus Ashiq Awan. In a presser, she had accused Shahbaz Sharif’s government of causing a huge loss to the national exchequer in awarding the contracts to the Turkish companies.

    Meanwhile, Punjab CM Usman Buzdar expressed displeasure with the LWMC officials over the heaps of garbage in the city and asked them to clean it within two days, saying the city is a “garbage dump”.

    “I have received reports that Lahore has been turned into a garbage dump. Every time I have visited the city, I have found bad conditions. Let all the departments work together to make Lahore clean on a priority basis,” he added.

    Pakistan Today reported that the LWMC has been failed to develop garbage from most areas of the city, including Ichra, Shadman, Nishtar Colony, Gulberg, Sanda, Samanabad, Allama Iqbal Town, Harbanspura, Township, for the past 10 days amid delay in the garbage disposal.

    It reported that the LWMC’s waste management contract was with Turkish companies that expired on December 31. The contract, however, couldn’t extend due to a dispute between Turkish companies and LWMC. The government subsequently signed a contract with a new party, but the cleanliness situation in the city failed to improve.