Municipal Solid Waste and Utility Consumption in Taiwan

Hsin-Chen Sung, Yiong-Shing Sheu, Bing-Yuan Yang and Chun-Han Ko
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Hsin-Chen Sung: Ocean Conservation Administration, Ocean Affairs Council, Executive Yuan, Taipei 10043, Taiwan
Yiong-Shing Sheu: Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, Taipei 10043, Taiwan
Bing-Yuan Yang: School of Forest and Resources Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan
Chun-Han Ko: School of Forest and Resources Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: In Taiwan, 3,130,735 t of refuse for disposal and 4,113,808 t of recycled recyclable waste were generated in 2017. The government of Taiwan has been actively promoting a resource recycling program since July 1998. To pursue sustainability and locate waste minimization opportunities, the correlation between utility consumption and population and the quantity of refuse and recyclable waste from municipalities in Taiwan was studied. There are six special municipalities and 16 cities and counties covering a great variety of urbanization and settlement characteristics, such as registered populations, electricity, and water consumption. The above parameters of the municipalities were correlated with the quantities of refuse and recycled urban waste. Residential electricity consumption, overall population, and business electricity consumption were found to be major parameters correlating the generation of refuse and recycled urban waste. Due to their higher levels of business activities, the waste generation behaviours of these six special municipalities are more diverse than those of the 16 municipalities. Due to the discrepancy of the registered population system, the utility consumption values within administrative boundaries can better predict municipal solid waste, (MSW) generation than utility consumption at a per capita. Utility consumption within administrative boundaries is more convenient as a measure to predict refuse and recycled urban waste than other complex social–economic indicators.

Keywords: municipal solid waste; recycling; recyclable waste; sustainability; urban; utilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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