Anyone familiar with Taiwan’s bubble tea culture is no stranger to the Four Seasons Spring (四季春) tea. Nantou's Mingjian Township (南投名間鄉) which produces the vast majority of Taiwan's Four Seasons Spring tea, boasts over 2,000 hectares of tea plantations. The annual output value of Mingjian's tea industry is estimated to reach tens of billions of TWD. However, the Nantou County Government's recent push to build a waste incinerator in Mingjian Township has created lots of anxiety for the local tea industry.
On March 27, the Mingjian Township Anti-Incinerator Association (名間鄉反焚化爐自救會) traveled north to protest in front of the main entrance of the Executive Yuan. They demanded that the government revoke the allocation of state-owned farmland to the Nantou County Government for building an incinerator. They argued that the incinerator would not only sit on agricultural land and a sensitive habitat for leopard cats (石虎, scientific name: Prionailurus bengalensis), but there are also concerns of violating its environmental impact assessment (EIA) and land-use zoning. Thus they demanded an immediate halt to the development.
"Boba" brought north to protest - villagers demand Executive Yuan release state land
A week before the protest, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) publicly stated that a "cocktail therapy" approach should be used to handle Nantou’s garbage crisis, emphasizing that the government cannot solely rely on building incinerators. Lai also noted, "I love drinking boba milk tea (珍珠奶茶)," vowing to resolve the dispute for the sake of bubble tea.
Shi Zhi-zhong (釋致中), president of the Mingjian Township Anti-Incinerator Self-Help Association (名間鄉反焚化爐⾃救會), stated that the case is riddled with procedural injustice. Even before the EIA and changes to the land-use zoning reviews had passed, the Nantou County Government had already put out public tenders to acquire and widen land for connecting roads—much of which is state-owned agricultural land. He urged the Executive Yuan to revoke the official document allocating the land to the county government. He also called on the National Property Administration of the Ministry of Finance to strictly uphold their principle of keeping agricultural land for agricultural use, and to refuse any further release of state-owned land to the Nantou County Government for incinerator development.
During the protest, the association not only displayed large mock-ups of boba tea but also prepared nearly 100 cups of "Mingjian Township Winter Oolong Green Tea with Boba" (名間鄉冬片綠茶加珍珠) to distribute to supporters. A representative from the Executive Yuan accepted the petition and promised to take the residents' opinions back for further deliberation.
County government aims to resolve waste crisis with incinerator; Will the incinerator site pollute the tea plantation?
According to statistics from the Ministry of Environment, Nantou's waste volume grew by 21% over the decade spanning 2015 to 2024. Due to a lack of effective disposal channels, garbage has gradually piled up within the county. The county government further stated that by the end of 2024, 310,000 tons of garbage had accumulated.
To tackle this crisis, Nantou County is pushing forward with the Mingjian Township incinerator project, aiming to have it operational by 2030. During the planning stage, the county government listed six potential sites, but ultimately selected Mingjian Township—a hub for tea production. Mingjian Township Chief Chen Han-li (陳翰立) expressed that this choice was made simply because Mingjian’s land was the easiest to acquire, adding, "I feel the Environmental Protection Bureau (環保局) completely disrespected the local residents."
What makes Mingjian tea so exceptional? Fang-xian (芳賢, pseudonym), a tea farmer from Songboling in Mingjian Township, told reporters from EIC that tea harvested between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM is the most aromatic. "We call that sweet fragrance the midday aroma (二午氣)." The reason Mingjian midday aroma tea is so rich is due to the flat terrain, making it one of the most ideal tea-growing regions in Taiwan for machine harvesting.
Fang-xian proudly noted that they do not harvest tea in the morning when it lacks fragrance; instead, they harvest the best tea at the most precise moment.
In Mingjian Township, many tea farmers have taken the extra step to obtain organic tea certifications. But what about the future incinerator? Fang-xian warned that emissions from the incinerator could drift with the wind and settle as fallout on the tea leaves. Moreover, "If dioxins are ever detected in the tea and the media reports on it, the entire industry will collapse." This could very well negate all the extra work these farmers have put towards their organic tea certifications.
Currently, the EIA process for the Mingjian incinerator is still underway, and the controversy shows no signs of subsiding.
Translated by Stella Cammack; Proofread by Jaye Brayboy and Vita Liu (劉祐君).
*Note: This article has been translated between Chinese and English. Proper names and pinyin spellings are provided for reference only.
