Ahead of the Ghost Festival, Taiwan's Ministry of Environment is promoting practices that reduce the burning of joss paper — good news for air quality, and a way for worshippers to keep their traditional rituals.

• The policy centres on "substitute burning, moderate burning, and centralised burning," alongside other measures such as offering rice in place of joss paper, taking incinerators out of service, and switching to higher-denomination joss paper.
• Nationwide joss paper use fell by roughly 3,929 tonnes last year, 2.67 times the reduction achieved the previous year.
• The volume of joss paper collected for centralised handling rose 22% from the previous year, indicating that public attitudes are shifting.
• Zhongshun Temple in Taipei's Muzha district has taken its incinerator out of service and promotes the use of a single incense stick per burner, and has also installed real-time air quality monitoring and purification systems.
• Kaohsiung has seen the best results with substitute burning, while Taichung and Tainan lead on moderate burning and centralised burning.

Outlook: Temples around the island are expected to expand their use of centralised burning and rice-for-joss-paper offerings during the Ghost Festival period, with air pollution from joss paper burning likely to fall further.