Waste Management In Taipei

A piece in the Straits Times print edition today (Monday, 11 Apr 2011): "Trash war: Sweet smell of success". The article details Taipei's waste management system, and caught my as a Taiwanese friend had mentioned it some time back in conversation. - System was started in 2000. - 2,500 collection points at street corners throughout the city, for trash and recyclables. - Collection daily except Wed and Sat. - Most residents or shopkeeps outsource the dumping and sorting of waste to private trash collectors for a monthly fee. - 56 fixed collection centres located across Taipei City, for people who are unable to meet the scheduled pickup and whose residence / office have not outsourced their trash collection activities. - "Pay-as-you-throw" system requires households and businesses to put waste in government issue blue garbage bags sold bfor between NT$1.35 and NT$45 each, depending on size. Residents who use unauthorised bags can be fined up to NT$6,000. - Recyclables are sorted (BY HAND!) into 7 categories: PET bottles, glass bottles, plastics, aluminium and ferrous metals, paper, food scraps, clothing. Recyclables are collected free of charge.

And the results?

- Taipei's 2.7m people produced 1,619 tonnes of trash a day in 2010 vs 3,695 tonnes before 2000

- Recycling rates up from 2.4% to 43%

- Taipei's only landfill is now an ecological park, having been idle since the beginning of 2011- 3 incineration plants operating at below capacity because of less-than-expected trash

- Taipei residents pay on average NT$51 a month in 2010 vs NT$144 a decade ago

- Per capita CO2 emissions were 4.2 tonnes in 2008, lower than the average of 4.6 tonnes among 22 major Asian cities surveyed by the EIU in 2010

- System costs government NT$3.1bn a year to run, vs revenues of NT$400m from the sale of garbage bags

I think the charging for collection bags, even if for only a nominal fee, is nifty as it accomplishes 2 things - (1) the nominal charge will make most people conscious about their volume of general waste, and (2) more importantly though, it will make people conscious about separating recyclables from the general trash pool (so they use less of the chargeable trash bags). It is amazing how many people still do not make an effort to recycle, and recycling has to start from consciousness at the individual level.