What Goes Up
Visiting the former mining community of Shifen 十分 in northern Taiwan to release sky lanterns is one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist activities. An estimated 30,000 sky lanterns are released every month with that number rising exponentially during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Every lantern that goes up…must eventually come down.
Shifen’s old street and sky lantern businesses are the main source of income for this small, mountain community generating millions of USD each year. But the tourist activity has long been criticized by Taiwanese environmental groups for generating endless amounts of waste in the surrounding mountain communities. Although some shops sell an “eco-friendly” option made of paper and bamboo, most of the lanterns are made of metal and plastic, landing in trees and rivers in the surrounding area.
Many of Shifen’s elderly residents now earn their living from collecting the fallen lanterns scattered across their gardens, rooftops, and temples for a small recycling fee.
