Waste management in Taiwan


Waste management in Taiwan refers to the management and disposal of waste in Taiwan. It is regulated by the Department of Waste Management of the Ministry of Environment of the Executive Yuan.

History

Waste management was not centrally regulated during the early years of Meiji era Japan. In 1900, the Sewage Disposal Law, the Waste Cleaning Act, and the Dirt Removal Law were enacted. The legislation was aimed at improving sanitation in Japanese cities and made waste disposal a municipal responsibility. At the time, Taiwan was a territory of Japan.
Under the Republic of China, Taiwan began to industrialize by the 1950s and 1960s. In the following decades, industrialization occurred more rapidly, leading to a higher waste output. Taiwan then became known as the Garbage Island. To combat increased levels of waste, a recycling program began in 1989, following a 1987 amendment to the Waste Disposal Act. Recycling in Taiwan started as a private effort, but the initiative soon became overrun with fraud and other scandals due to ineffective government regulation. The private organizations and industries in charge of the program were free to falsely report recycling rates.The government established the 3R Foundation in 1994 to discourage instances of fraud and other scandals. Recyclables were reclassified into eight groups: containers, tires, pesticide containers, lubricant oil, lead-acid batteries, vehicles, home appliances, and communication products. Each of these materials were the responsibility of one commission, and the commissions themselves were overseen by the Environmental Protection Administration. The eight separate committees initially established by recyclable material were eventually merged into the Resource Recycling Fund Management Committee. General oversight of the recycling program has been placed under the purview of the Resource Recycling Fund Management Committee, but a separate committee handles the establishment of recycling fees, and another committee is called on to periodically audit the recycling program itself.

Waste collection and disposal

Taiwan's limited space to build trash incinerators and landfills were recognized as a problem, but from the 1980s and as late as 1996, waste was freely placed in the streets for collection. At the time, Taiwan had five incinerators in operation; at full capacity, only 10% of annual combustible waste was disposed of via incineration. Other methods of garbage disposal placed a large amount of stress on existing landfills. In 1997, the Environmental Protection Administration tracked the usage of 316 landfills. Of these landfills, 82 were full and another 55 were closed during that year because they were too close to rivers.
In the 1990s, the government began enforcing waste sorting procedures. People are responsible for bringing their own trash to the collection point. In some areas such as Taipei City, nonrecyclables must be collected in colour-coded bags that can be bought at convenience stores. Raw food waste is processed to be further used as fertilizer by farmers. Cooked food waste is processed to be further turned into food for livestock. Not all recyclables are collected daily; the most common recyclables have a specially designated pickup day. There are 33 items considered recyclable, which in turn fall into 13 categories.
Garbage collection trucks are known to play music to alert people of their presence at collection points. Songs played include Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska's "Maiden's Prayer" and Ludwig van Beethoven's "Für Elise." Starting in 2003, recycling trucks played Hou Dejian's composition, "Any Empty Wine Bottles for Sale?" as first recorded by Su Rui for the 1983 film Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing. Trucks picking up waste from indigenous areas play indigenous folk tunes. Christmas music is played during Christmas, and at Chinese New Year, recordings of Chinese traditional tunes play. Local governments have occasionally changed the garbage collection song. Other prerecorded tracks played on the trucks include short English-language lessons.

Power generation

In 2016, 76.8% of fly ash from coal-fired power plants in Taiwan were reused in the construction areas, totaling to 1.703 million tons. Any remaining industrial waste from power generation industries, such as wire, cables and scrap were reused by waste disposal contractors through open bidding process. In 2016, there was 4,950 tons of such waste sold, which generated a revenue of NT$533 million.

Recycling facilities

Incinerators

As of August 2023, there are currently 25 large-scale waste incineration plants in operation. Among them, 22 plants are publicly owned with 5 publicly operated and 17 privately operated. The remaining three plants are privately owned and operated.
FacilityCityCapacityElectric Power OutputHeight of smokestackYear openedCoordinatesRemarks-
BeitouTaipei1800 tons/d48 MW150 m1999chimney with observation deck and restaurant-
NeihuTaipei900 tons/d144 MW73 m1991-
MuzhaTaipei1200 tons/d13.5 MW147 m1994-
BaliNew Taipei City1350 tons/d35.7 MW150.5 m2001-
ShulinNew Taipei City450 tons/d22.3 MW118 m1995-
XindianNew Taipei City900 tons/d14.6 MW120 m1994-
KeelungKeelung600 tons/d15.8 MW100 m2005-
LizeYilan County600 tons/d14.7 MW120 m2005-
TaoyuanTaoyuan1350 tons/d35.1 MW80 m2001-
Hsinchu CityHsinchu City900 tons/d23.7 MW67 m2000-
MiaoliMiaoli County500 tons/d11.8 MW70 m-
TaichungTaichung900 tons/d26.2 MW120 m1995-
HouliTaichung900 tons/d26.2 MW120 m2000-
WujihTaichung900 tons/d100 m2004-
His-ChouChanghua County900 tons/d22.6 MW118.3 m2000-
LinneiYulin County300 tons/d2005Never started operation due to corruption case against former magistrate of Yunlin County-
ChiayiChiayi City300 tons/d2.4 MW68 m1998-
LutsaoChiayi County900 tons/d120 m2001-
TaitungTaitung County300 tons/d2005-
Tainan900 tons/d14.3 MW124 m1999-
Tainan900 tons/d22.5 MW100 m2008-
RenwuKaohsiung1350 tons/d150 MW118.8 m2000-
GangshanKaohsiung1350 tons/d38 MW60 m2001-
Kaohsiung900 tons/d25.5 MW100 m1999-
Kaohsiung1800 tons/d49 MW87.6 m2000
Pingtung County900 tons/d22.5 MW100 m2000