Chiayi County's top choice: Xingang Eco-Friendly Shopping District, where the "food" deals and prizes keep coming

Chiayi County - To implement the waste reduction policy and reduce the use of disposable tableware, the county has joined hands with the Xingang Charm Shopping District to promote the only "eco-friendly shopping district" in its jurisdiction. On December 9, County Magistrate Weng Chang-Liang, Xingang Township Chief Lin Mao-Sheng, Lai Ying-Ying, director of the Waste Management Division of the Environmental Protection Administration, Chang Ken-Mu, director of the Chiayi County Environmental Protection Bureau, Huang Jing-Hui, chairman of the Xingang Shopping District Association, along with several elected representatives and partner vendors, promoted a number of eco-friendly measures in the shopping district. The Chiayi County Environmental Protection Bureau stated that from now until December 20, those who visit stores bearing the "Eco-Friendly Vendor" sticker and complete the "eco-friendly" consumption task of not using disposable tableware can enter a lucky draw, with the biggest prize being the hottest iPhone 12 smartphone.

To reduce environmental problems such as garbage, cooking fumes and wastewater brought by tourist shopping districts and night markets, the Chiayi County Environmental Protection Bureau hopes to implement environmental protection in shopping districts by promoting source reduction of single-use products, resource recycling, control of cooking fume emissions, treatment of restaurant wastewater (sewage), low-carbon energy-saving measures and environmental cleaning (including public restrooms), integrating shopping district cleanliness, reducing disposable tableware and cooking fume emissions, and creating a "plastic-reduced, low-carbon, fresh" eco-friendly shopping district. The businesses in front of Fengtian Temple on Zhongshan Road in Xingang Township were selected first as the eco-friendly demonstration shopping district. On one hand, this raises the quality of tourism, and visitors traveling there can also experience a different tourism environment while also taking "food safety" into account.

County Magistrate Weng Chang-Liang stated that night markets and shopping districts are a huge consumption space, using large amounts of disposable tableware every day, along with environmental concerns such as cooking fume and wastewater emissions. To encourage store owners and consumers to reduce or stop using disposable tableware, the Xingang Shopping District was chosen as a demonstration site, with subsidies for tableware and incentives for businesses to further treat cooking fumes and wastewater. The process of education and persuasion does take some time, and the county government will strengthen outreach and instill these ideas in the next generation, so that residents' living environment can become better and everyone can live a healthy green life.