Orchid Island’s Garbage Crisis and the Average Guy's Dream to Protect his Homeland

Orchid Island. Photo: TzuYu Yen

Summary

Orchid Island is one of the Pacific Islands with rich natural and cultural resources. It has been restricted to the research area until 1967. Since then, tourists to the island have increased explosively. Lacking a recycle system made it worse. Orchid has encountered the first garbage crisis ever in its history.

A local Tao farmer and general store owner, A-Wen, wanted a change for his homeland. Fed up with the inefficient local government, he initiated a recycle system in 2012.  He faces many challenges and the project brings some financial burdens. To run the recycle system sustainably, he has a dream to build an ultimate tourism recycle station. The ultimate shack would allow him to work longer indoors and generate extra revenue by advocating for conservation and Tao cultures.

Friends in Taiwan Adventures is a tour organization that cares about community, culture and conservation. We are helping A-Wen to raise funds to launch his dream shack. Support the historical movement on Orchid Island today. See below for details.

The Story

Where is Orchid Island?

Tao kids playing basketball in traditional 
clothes, loincloths. Photo: TzuYu Yen

Orchid Island (a.k.a Lanyu) is a small island situated in the Pacific Ocean off the south-east coast of Taiwan. It is approximately 45 square kilometers in area. It has abundant rainfall and almost one hundred protected rare plant and animal species, including the local Phalaenopsis orchids. The island has about 4000 inhabitants, mostly indigenous Tao people, a part of “oceanic people”. They called the island, “Ponso no Tao” (“Island of People”).

The island was first mapped on a French map of 1654 as Tabaco Xima. It has been restricted to the research area and close to the public until 1967. Due to the restriction, Tao people have the best preserved traditions among the Taiwanese aborigines.  Yet since 1967, schools were built on the island and “modern” education in Taiwanese Mandarin became compulsory. Tourists to the island have also increased explosively.

The Garbage Crisis

Per Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau, 78,000 tourists on average visited the island of 4,000 inhabitants annually. In 2013 and 2014, the number of visitors skyrocketed to 148,000 and 129,000 respectively.   Uncontrolled tourism inevitably brings the impacts on the local economy, culture and environment. 70 tonne, or 154,000 lbs, of trash was produced every month in the low season. In the high season, it averages about 120 tonne, or 264,000 lbs, per month. 

Photo: A-Wen

Moreover, in responding to the increasing tourism, more cars and scooters were shipped to the island. Per Taiwan’s Transportation Bureau, Orchid has 500+ cars and 5,000+ scooters that produce an estimate of 8,300 liters, or 2,200 gallon, of used motor oil every month in the high season.

The increasing amount of waste is bad but it is not the worst. Orchid Island did not have a recycle system or any development to process the waste locally. The trash was sent to a tiny 0.87-hectare (2.15-acre) landfill site expired in 2008. After that, the local government shipped the waste to Taiwan to process. The shipping and process fee are costly. It is not surprising that the not-particularly efficient local government is incapable of developing any recycle systems. 

And it’s too costly to recycle the amount of the trash on Orchid for private waste management companies in Taiwan. Therefore for many years the island was left alone with no recycle systems despite the increasing amount of garbage. People were forced to, and used to, dump used motor oil, cooking oil and plastics on the land and in the ocean.

A Local Average Guy Stepped Up

A-WEN and families processing recycled items. Photo: A-Wen

A-Wen is a local Tao farmer and an owner of a small grocery store in one of the six villages on Orchid Island. Like everyone else, he has dumped the waste directly to the land and ocean in his 30+ years of life due to lack of choices. However he has noticed the color of streams on the island changed from clear to murky. In 2012, he decided to stop polluting his homeland and initiated a recycle movement. 

He started with the used oil recycle in 2012 and then incorporated the plastics recycle in 2014. With limited resources, he simply visited the residents on the island door by door and asked for permission to place the recycle drums for the used oils and large mesh bags for plastic bottles.   

But It Is Not Easy

Recycling may be something basic for a lot of us. It does not make sense to every local on the island.  In the first 6 months, A-Wen only recycled an estimate of 2% of the used motor oil. Even now after 3 years of promotion, he could still only recycle an estimate of 4% in the high season. [1] 

Table [1]. A very low recycle rate.

The same goes to the plastic waste.  Although the recycle mesh bags are available at many locations, plastic waste is still scattered around the island or burned by locals without the knowledge of the Dioxin toxicity. People also throw rotten food or even dead birds in the mesh bags. A-Wen got laughs from some villagers. They think that he started the recycling movement for a big fortune.

A Money-Losing Project

They forget that if there is a big fortune, the waste management companies in Taiwan would have established the recycle system long time ago. It is a basic principle of the market economy. Just how profitable or unprofitable this recycle system is? A-Wen told us he gained about $50,000 NTD ($1,600 USD) a year in gross revenue. We roughly estimate the profitability of his two recycling lines based on the routines he described to us. Without the cost of his truck, the used oil recycle nets profit at $9,800 NTD ($300 USD) a year and the plastic recycle ends with a yearly loss of $118,000 NTD ($3,800 USD). That totals $108,000 NTD ($3,500 USD) in loss. [2] 

Used Oil Recycle Est Profit Shows Positive.

Table [2] -1 Used oil recycle has a profit.

Plastic Oil Recycle Est Profit is Negative... Far Off from Break Even

Table [2]-2 Plastic recycle reports a loss. 

A-Wen doesn’t mind donating his labors doing the right thing. But recycling, especially recycling plastics, takes away the time he can take care of his grocery shop and taro farm. A-Wen realizes that he needs help.

The Solution

To make this recycle system sustainable, he needs to do 3 things: reducing the labor cost, increasing the recycling rate, and generating more revenues.  

Reducing the labor cost and increasing the recycling rate go hand in hand. The recycle concept is not well accepted in Orchid Island yet. A-Wen has to go through each bag cleaning and separating the recyclable bottles from the rotted food and dead birds. If people care more about the environment conservation, they will be more willing to recycle the waste properly. A-Wen would be able to collect more recyclable items in each round island trip and spend less time processing them afterwards.  Besides reducing the cost, he also needs to generate more revenues from the trash to turn around the recycle project.   

An Ultimate Tourism Recycle Station

Photo: National Historic Monuments of Taiwan

A-Wen came up with an idea to solve all three problems above: An ultimate tourism recycle station!!! He plans to build the station on a 50-square-meter (538-square-foot) area in his sweet potato farm. The station would probably start off as an easy metal shack, ideally solar powered and a brick shack later when he has more funds.  

It will be divided to two rooms, a recycling room and a tourism room. The bottle baling machine that currently stands outside will be moved into the recycling room for better protection.  The tourism room will be used as a space to introduce Orchid Island to tourists and to promote conservation and the community service. Detailed benefits below:

The recycling room

·         Improving productivity:

Roofed workstation allows longer working hours regardless the weather.  Indoor storage would probably extend the life of the bottle baling machine and thus decrease the cost of maintaining the machine

The tourism room

•          A sustainable way to make extra revenue on the trash

A-Wen plans to welcome the tourists with a 2-hour storytelling session talking about the Tao culture, traditions and environment conservation issues on the island. This service will be offered on a donation basis.  He would also display the crafts and arts from the local artists for purchase, especially featuring those made of recyclable materials.  

•           A great place for education and community service

There is an obvious need to promote the recycling and environment conservation concept among the tribesmen. And the lonely elders on the island with lots of wisdom may be the best promoters. As remote as it is, Orchid Island has high population outflows due to the urbanization. Young people left the island for higher-paid jobs and left many elders home. 

These elders learned the wisdom and traditions from previous generations. They would love to share and pass on the knowledge if given a chance. The conservation promotion events will provide them the best opportunities. A-Wen wants to invite these elders to talk about the history, culture, and traditions. 

Through learning the old wisdom, tribe youngsters can be inspired to know their roots and love their land. The love will lead them to follow the principles of the conservation to reduce, reuse and recycle.  

We calculate the potential profits that the ultimate shack could bring. We assume that with the shack, A-WEN can collect double amount of recycles per trip, use half amount of the time to process the plastics, spend less to repair the baler and have extra income from the donations. A-Wen can possibly run his recycling system sustainably with $2,800 NTD (~$100 USD) in profits a year. [3] It is not a lot. At least he can continue recycling while taking care of his families with his farm and grocery store. Plus profits may improve in the future when people are more and more aware of conservation.

Forecasted  Oil Recycle Est Profit Shows More Positive

Table [3] -1
Raising the conservation awareness will increase the recycle rate.
The local government started to promote electronic scooters in July 2015 

Forecasted Plastic Oil Recycle Est Profit is Close to Break Even

Table [3]-2 Extra revenue from donations will greatly help the bottom line numbers.

Raising the Fund

The shack would cost an estimate of $400,000 NTD ($12,860 USD) initially. A-Wen has launched a funding project on his facebook page since July 2014 and received about $100,000 NTD ($3,200 USD) so far. He also joined a NGO community contest that could possibly bring him a prize of $150,000 NTD ($4,800 USD). He needs to raise $150,000 NTD ($4,800 USD) more. Every dollar we raise would help him get closer to his dream to change the history of Orchid Island.

How You Can Help

A-WEN in his potato farm. Photo: A-Wen

Friends in Taiwan Adventures is a tour organization that cares about community, culture and conservation. When we covered the story, we found out he could use extra help. We are helping him to set up a fundraising campaign through a crowd funding site.  Please leave us an email if you would like to be notified when it’s up. 

Meanwhile, if you really want to make your donation now, please paypal us at fan2.lin@gmail.com. Please make a note telling Paypal that the money is donations for saving Orchid Island garbage crisis.  Otherwise Paypal Taiwan may freeze our account for a “suspicious” transaction.

Alternatively, you can like our facebook page. Right now we are sponsoring him with a “1 like, $1 NTD” campaign on facebook for the first 1,500 likes. It will cost you nothing to donate $1 NTD to A-Wen.

You can volunteer too. If you are travelling to Orchid Island and would like to help A-Wen process plastic recycles for 2 hours, please contact us. You could also volunteer to build the shack.

Spreading the word helps. Click the share buttons below. Publishers, you could conduct an interview with A-WEN as well. Please contact us if you need help.

We could also use the donation of solar panels or building materials for the shack.

Thank you for supporting A-WEN and supporting change.

Who is A-WEN?

A-WEN is your typical average family guy - honest, hardworking and a little stubborn. Born and raised on the Orchid Island, he has deep connections to the land. Like many Tao people, he has struggled between the traditions and the modern world. He left Orchid Island to earn more money when he was 17. But the families and the love of the land ultimately brought him back in his late 20s in 2004. Community-minded, he has volunteered for elderly with a local community service group since then. He also noticed the island’s tourism boom and the trash they left behind.

Yet like most of residents, he ignored the trash scattered around the island at first. He turned a blind eye to the used oil dumped in the stream. He thought something was wrong but he hesitated to be the first to make a change.

Over the years, he saw more and more damages that the pollution caused. Some tourists complained to him about lacking of a recycling system. An inefficient local government frustrated him too.

He went through multiple internal struggles. Finally he talked himself out of the hesitation and launched the recycle movement in 2012. In 2014, he became a father. Now he has more reason to protect the island where he calls home.  


What is it like to recycle? 

If the embedded video doesn't play, visit Youtube.   

  

Source:

·         Interview with A-Wen (Cheng-Wen Lin)

·         Taiwan Tourism Bureau

·         Taiwan Transportation Bureau

·         Wiki

·         Taipei News  

·         Liberty Times Net 

·         A-Wen’s video: In Mandarin

·         Documentary of A-Wen by Daai TV : In Mandarin

·         News of A-Wen by Formosa TV : In Mandarin

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