Another public holiday in China, another mountain of trash. The front page of the Haixi Morning Post (海西晨报) from Xiamen today is one of a few newspapers around China looking back on a public holiday of gridlocked traffic, congested scenic spots and – inevitably – mountains of trash, again.
As the Haixi Morning Post reports today, after the three-day May Day holiday the scenic island of Gulangyu (鼓浪屿) off Xiamen welcomed a total number of 186,700 tourist visits – and then had to sweep up 180 tons of trash, a new record for the May Day holiday. This is despite the fact that the total number of tourist visits was down by 3,000 compared to last year, when the trash left behind on the island totaled 165 tons.
What this means, then, is that less people are making bigger mountains of trash. In fact, on May 30th a mere 66,000 tourists left behind a full 75 tons of trash, a feat towering above the 80 tons of trash left behind by no less than 120,000 people on the 2nd of October last year during the Golden Week Holiday.
All this is despite that during the May Day holiday the island was equipped with more than 100 sanitation vehicles, 100 rubbish bins, and almost 300 hygiene officials. The latter worked every day from 4:30 am to 12:00 pm to clean up the trash but – as the newspaper sardonically puts it – “were unable to always maintain a clean environment”.
Here’s a few other front pages from China today on the congested and crowded May Day holiday:
Links and sources
Haixi Morning Post (海西晨报): 鼓浪屿3天扫出180吨垃圾