The objective of this project was to reduce the open burning of agricultural wastes and joss paper to maintain the air quality of Pingtung County by inspecting the opening burning of agricultural waste and reducing the collective burning of joss paper. The 2018 Project of Enhancing Inspection and Control of Agricultural Waste Opening Burning and Reduction of Joss Paper Burning was implemented from March 27, 2018 to December 31, 2018, and the outcome data were collected by November 30, 2018. Regarding the inspection and control of opening burning of agricultural wastes, a total of 452 opening burning activities were inspected. The top four townships that had the largest number of opening burning activities were Fangliao Township (N = 119), Jiadong Township (N = 82), Linbian Township (N = 64), and Nanzhou Township (N = 63), accounting for 72.56% of the total inspected activities. The agricultural waste most frequently found to be burned was the branches and leaves of wax apples. Furthermore, GPS was employed in conjunction with ArcGIS to establish a database for the agricultural waste opening burning locations in Pingtung County to control open burning activities. Consequently, a total of 5,101 data were collected in the database. In addition to inspection and control, assistance should also be provided regarding the appropriate disposal of agricultural wastes. For the fruit, branch, and leaf wastes that are easily burned, the Pingtung Government assisted in the formation of 18 agricultural waste crushing teams and subsidized the waste crushers. During the implementation period of this project, the teams helped farmers crush agricultural wastes for a total area of 1,107 ha. In addition, diverse waste disposal methods were provided, such as centralized disposal, waste removal by the Environmental Protection Bureau, and the recycling of soil coverage plastic paper; these methods were applied for waste disposal in an area of 174.01 ha. The self-management of farmland leased by Taiwan Sugar Corporation was also promoted. Specifically, data of 1066.47 ha farmland were collected, and 303.36-ha farmland was randomly selected for inspection. No open burning activities were found during the inspection, showing that using a lease contract to restrict tenants was effective. During the project, the Pingtung Government assisted five agricultural production and marketing groups to obtain the certification of eco-friendly farms. The Assistance Project for the Promotion of Adequate Agricultural Waste Disposal in Pingtung County was also implemented, and two work meetings were held in 2018. Additionally, five promotion meetings for open burning reduction were held in Nanzhou, Fangliao, Jiadong, Linbian, and Donggang Townships.
Regarding the collective burning and reduction of joss paper, the amount of joss paper collected for burning was 164.92 tons in Qingming and Ghost Festival in 2018. Project personnel visited temples in Pingtung County personally to assist in joss paper reduction, and a total of 20 temples were willing to adopt the joss paper reduction measure. Moreover, two meetings for explaining and promoting the reduction of joss paper collective burning were held before the Ghost Festival, and one meeting was held in October in Donglong Temple, Donggang Township to explain rules that a high-quality temple should comply with to prevent pollution caused during temple fairs. A total of 1,000 leaflets, posters, and other information materials regarding the prohibition of open burning and the reduction of collective burning joss paper were produced and distributed in related events. The overall project completion rate was 100%, and the implementation outcomes are summarized in Tables 1 and 2.
