TaiwanÕsgovernmenthascontinuedtosetnewpoliciesregardingMSWmanagement.TheseincludeimposingfeesforMSWcollectionandtreatmentafter2000,limitingtheuseofplasticbags,andimplementingkitchen-wasterecy-clingprograms.Theo cialplanistoachievethegoalof‘‘zeroMSW’’by2020.Therearestillagreatmanychal-lengesinthefutureofMSWtreatmentinTaiwan,asspec-i edbelow.
4.1.Plasticbaguserestrictionprogram(Begunin2003)Asameansofpromotingsimplerlivingandgraduallyalteringthethrow-awayconsumerhabitsofthepublic,Tai-wanchosetotryandreducetheuseofplasticshoppingbagsanddisposabledishes.Asustainable-resourceper-spectivepreferswastereductionwherewasteisproduced.Theplasticbagrestrictionprogramhasbeenimple-mentedpursuanttothe‘‘userestriction’’clauseofArticle21oftheWasteDisposalAct.Thisprogramrestrictstheuseofplasticshoppingbagsandplasticdisposabledishesoveranumberofstages.Itreliesprimarilyonincentivesandsecondarilyonsubsidiestoencouragebusinessestointroducereusableshoppingbagsanddishes.
TheprogramÕstargetistoreducetheamountofplasticbagsproducedandconsumedby20,000tonsannually,acurrentusage-ratereductionofapproximately31%,andtoreducetheamountofplastic(includingpolystyrene)dis-
L.-T.Luetal./WasteManagement26(2006)661–667667
posabledishesproducedandconsumedby12,000tonsannually,areductionincurrentusageratesofroughly28%.
4.2.Foodandgardenwasterecycling
Statisticsfor2002showthatoftheaverage18,421tonsofMSWcollecteddailyinTaiwan,foodandgardenwastecomprisesroughly25%,orapproximately4500tons.Atrialfood-andgarden-wasterecyclingprogramwasstartedin2000.With24countiesandcities,and100townshipsparticipatinginthisprogram,bytheendof2003theamountoffoodandgardenwastecollecteddailyhadalreadyreached300tons(accountingfor6.7%oftherecy-clingtonnage).Reuseofthiswasteincludespigfeed(accountingfor68%ofcollectedfoodwaste)andcompo-sting(accountingfor32%).Thisfood-wasterecyclingpro-gramisexpectedtobeimplementedthroughoutallofTaiwanby2004andtheamountoffoodandgardenwasterecycledisforecasttoaccountfor17%ofthetotalwastetonnagecollectedby2020.
4.3.ThegoalofzerowasteforMSW
AsresourceshavebecomescarcerandMSWdisposalcostshavecontinuedtoclimb,Taiwanhasgraduallyturnedtosourcereductionandrecyclingtoreplaceitsfor-mer‘‘end-of-pipe’’wastedisposalmethods.AtpresentTai-wanisaggressivelyformulatingwastereductionandrecycling/reuseprogramstoachieveitsgoalofestablishingazero-wastesociety.
ZerowasteforMSWmeansnomoreland llsfor naldisposalofrawMSWbutratherutilizingmethodsofsourcereductionandresourcerecycling.In1998,MSWcollectedinTaiwanreached8.88milliontons,whilerecy-clablewastecollectedwas0.55milliontons,atotalof9.43milliontons.Takingthese1998 guresasitsstartingpoint,TaiwanaimstoreducethetotalamountofrawMSWby25%by2007,40%by2011,and70%by2020.Waysofachievingthisgoalarerelatedtorecyclingandreuseprograms.5.Conclusion
Thefollowingconclusionscanbedrawnfromthefore-goinganalysis.TaiwanexperiencedarapidgrowthinGNPandasteadyincreaseinMSWproductionbeginningin1982.Priorto1989TaiwanÕsMSWmanagementstrat-egyfocusedonwastedisposal.However,thiswasine ec-tiveinrestrainingthemarkedgrowthrateofwasteproduced.In1989,TaiwanbegantopromoteMSWrecy-
clingwithanemphasisonavoidanceandreduction.Asaresultofe ectivemanagement,thegrowthofwastepro-ductionwascontrolled.
Themandatoryparticipationofthepublicinwasterecy-clingwasanimportantfactorinTaiwan.Wehaveseensuc-cessfulresultsofthewastereductionsystemaftertheMSWcollectionsystemwascombinedwiththerecyclingsystembythegovernmentduringthesecond-periodofrecycling(1998–2002).References
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