664L.-T.Luetal./WasteManagement26(2006)661–667
Table5
Comparingthe rstandsecond-periodsofrecyclinginTaiwan(TEPA,2003)PeriodDurationControl
First-period:managementbymanufacturesandimporters1989–1997
Governmentindicatedthescopeofresponsibility,
recyclableitems,recyclingproceduresandannualrecyclingquota
Auditingbyrecyclingorganization;supervisedbyTEPADeterminedbyeachrespectiverecyclingorganization
Second-period:TEPARecyclingFundManagementBoard
1997todate
Governmentdesignatedbusinessestopaytherecyclingfee,whichwasmanagedbytheRecyclingFundManagementBoard
Third-partyauditorappointedbyTEPA
DeterminedbyEPA,thefeewasbasedonthematerial,Auditingandcerti cationRecyclingfeerates
sibilityofmanufacturers(theextendedproducerresponsi-bilityprogram,orEPR)(seeTable4).
Inthesecondrecyclingperiod,theimportantchangesinvolvedamodi cationoftheEPRsystemof rst-periodMSWrecycling.Speci cally,manufacturerswerenolongerdirectlyinvolvedinrecycling.TheywererequiredtopaydisposalfeeswhoseratesweresetbytheTaiwanEnviron-mentalProtectionAdministration(TEPA).TheTEPAcombinedtherecyclingorganizations,whichhadoriginallybeenestablishedbymanufacturersandimporters.There-fore,thegovernmentbecamedirectlyinvolvedinrecyclingmanagement.Table5presentsacomparisonofthe rstandsecondstagesofrecycling.3.2.TrendsinMSWgeneration
StatisticsonMSWcollectedoverthelast5yearsrevealthatthedailypercapitaproductionofMSWfellfrom1.14kgin1997to0.81kgin2002,analmost30%reductioninthedailyproductionofMSW(Fig.2).
Theoretically,basedontheaverage3%rateofincreaseinMSWduringthesecondstageofMSW( rst-periodofrecycling),theproductionofMSWshouldhavereached1.33kg/capita/dayby2002inTaiwan.However,thedaily
volume,weightandrecyclingvalues
percapitaproductionofMSWwasactually0.81kg/capita/dayin2002.Therefore,theMSWreductionwas0.50kg/capita/dayandthereductionrateofMSWwas37%.Inaddition,Fig.2showsageneralcorrelationbetweenthebudgetforMSWandtheGNPfrom1985to1997.Thecor-relationbetweenaveragepercapitaGNPandamountofrefusecollectedandtransportedoverthethreestagesofMSWinTaiwanisshowninFig.3.TheresultsrevealthatthereishighpositivecorrelationinStages1and2,butnotinStage3.TheorientationofMSWgrowthwasconvertedin1997andMSWcouldbee ectivelyreducedandcon-trolledduringthesecond-periodofrecycling.
ThebudgetforMSWcontinuedtogrowafter1997eventhoughTaiwanÕsGNPslowed.Thekeypointofthisdramaticchangeistherecyclingfeecollectedfromman-ufacturers:withtherecyclingfund,thegovernmentbecameabletoundertakewastereductionandrecyclingactivities.Before1997,TaiwanÕsgovernmentlackedsu -cientfundstoperformtherequiredwastereductionandrecyclingactivitiesandwasonlyabletoprovideforthecollection,transportation,andtreatmentofMSW.How-ever,after1997policieschanged:althoughthegrowthofGNPslowed,thebudgetforMSWcollectionincreasedby2–3billionNTdollars(US$1=NT$32)everyyear.TaiwanÕsgovernmentstartedperformingwasterecyclingandreductionwork,resultinginadecreaseintheamountofMSW.Wecanthereforeinferthatbecause
L.-T.Luetal./WasteManagement26(2006)661–667665
ofthewastereductionpolicythatbeganin1998,theMSWbudgetincreasedandtheamountofMSWdecreased,inspiteofthefactthatGNPgrowthslowed.IncreasedbudgetsandadecreasingamountofMSWattesttothegovernmentÕsdedicationtoimprovingrecy-clingduringthisperiod.
ThereasonswhythepolicyofMSWreductionwassuc-cessfulcanbelistedasfollows:
1.Mandatorywasterecyclingbylaw(describedinnextsection).
2.Mandatoryparticipationoflocalgovernmentwastecol-lectioncrewsinrecycling(describedinnextsection).3.Citizensbeganplacingtheirwastedirectlyintogarbagetrucks.Thetrucksstopatdesignatedpointsatdesig-natedtimes,allowingthepublictothrowwastedirectlyintothetrucks.Itwasthisnewmethodthatfacilitatedthesimultaneouscollectionofrecyclablewasteandgeneralwaste.Moreover,citizenscouldreducewasteontheirown.Thissystem rstoperatedinTaipeiin1996,andwasadoptedintherestofthecountryby1998.
3.4.Mandatoryparticipationoflocalgovernmentwaste-collectioncrewsinrecycling
Since,thewaste-collectioncrewsofthelocalgovern-mentwereresponsibleforthecollection,transportation,andrecyclingofTaiwanÕsMSW,theTEPAuseditsrecy-clingfundtosubsidizetherecyclingwork.TheTEPApur-chasedtherecyclingtrucksthatthelocalgovernmentsused.Thesetrucksaccompaniedthegarbagetruckssothattherecyclablewastecouldbecollectedatthesametime.Thenumberofrecyclingtrucksoperatedbythelocalgov-ernmentwaste-collectioncrewswas2050in2002.Thelocalgovernmentshadsetup263storagesitesforrecyclablewaste.Eachlocalgovernmentdispatchedthecrewstopickuptherecyclablewastetwiceaweek.Theamountofrecy-clablewastecollectedbythewaste-collectioncrewsoflocalgovernmentwas584,330tonsin2001,whichamountedtomorethan55%ofthetotalrecyclingamount(seeTable6).3.5.Theevaluationofmanagementpolicyindi erentstagesofMSW
Theenvironmentalmanagementtoolsduringthevari-ousstagesofMSWinTaiwanaresummarizedinTable7.NumerousenvironmentalmanagementstrategieshavebeeninstitutedinTaiwan.Thewastereductionandrecy-clingmanagementworkhasreliedonthem.Inchronolog-icalorder,themanagementstrategieswereenvironmentaleducation,EPR,controlandcommand(C&C),andtheuseofeconomicincentivestoachieveitsgoalofMSWreduction.Adetaileddescriptionfollows: