Perhaps the Beitou waste to energy facility should be known as a waste to entertainment plant. Beitou is home to the world’s only smoke stack with a
revolving restaurant attached. The Touch Stars Restaurant rises nearly 100 feet above the confluence of the Tamshui and Keelung rivers is
reported to be a hot ticket on Valentine’s Day. Touch Stars serves Shanghai
style food while rotating 360 degrees each hour. Beitou is not the world's only waste to energy tourist attraction, Vienna’s WTE plant is regularly featured in guidebooks and charges 10 euros for a tour.
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| photo by Susan Curry |
To be build community support for the Beitou facility
Taipei City government used land adjacent to the facility to build a swimming
complex, pre-school and kindergarten, fitness center and a park with an eternal
dancing flame statue. The facilities are
free to residents living within five kilometers of the plant. When I visited on
a Tuesday afternoon it was well used and during weekends it receives thousands
of visitors.
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| Map of Beitou community facilities built around the WTE plant |
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| The Eternal Dancing Flame statue of Beitou |
The symbolism of the eternal
dancing flame may turn out have been premature if rubbish keeps declining there
may not be enough to fuel the facility.
When I ask officials if they might go the way of Sweden and important trash, I was told me that the public would never allow it.
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