Waste reduction and waste spillovers: evidence from unit-based pricing of municipal solid waste in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This study evaluates the effects of unit-based pricing (UBP) of municipal solid waste and a mandatory recycling (MR) policy on waste reduction, recycling, illegal dumping, and garbage tourism incidents in major municipalities of Taiwan by using a quasi-experimental framework. The results suggest that the UBP policy curbed the quantity of unsorted waste and increased disposal of biodegradable waste but did not significantly increase recycling. In contrast, the MR policy effectively boosted biodegradable waste and recycling but did not necessarily decrease the amount of unsorted waste. There was a temporary increase in illegal dumping following the UBP policy. No evidence indicates that waste was shipped to nearby urban municipalities that had no UBP policy but likely to a neighbor rural municipality. The efficiency of the UBP in Taiwan is also discussed and compared with similar programs in other countries in this study.

KEYWORDS:

• Unit-based pricing
• waste management
• illegal dumping
• quasi-experiment
• recycling

SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION CODES:

• Q5

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Sheila Olmstead, Daniel Rondeau, and Daniel Phaneuf as well as other anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The territorial area of Taiwan is 36,193 km², and the total population is 23,519,518 in 2016. The population density is 649/ km², which is second highest among the countries with at least 10,000,000 people in the world.

2 “Taiwan: The World’s Geniuses of Garbage Disposal.” The Wall Street Journal. May 17, 2016. Online. (Accessed December 12, 2017). “Taiwan’s Recycling Boom: A Shining Example for Asia, the World.” The Diplomat. December 3, 2013. Online. (Accessed December 12, 2017). “Short on Space, Taiwan Embraces a Boom in Recycling.” The New York Times. November 29, 2013. Online. (Accessed December 12, 2017).

3 Despite similar names, Taipei City and New Taipei City are distinct cities, each with its own municipal government and waste disposal policies.

4 Biodegradable waste includes waste food, nut or seafood shells, fruit peels, coffee grounds, waste plants, and other decomposable waste which can use for animal feed or composting.

5 Recyclable waste also can be classified into ordinary recyclable waste and large recyclable waste. The former category includes paper, metal, plastic, glass, aluminum can, retort pouch, textile, appliance, battery, used light bulb, tire, electronics, and other recyclable items (e.g., umbrella, helmet, luggage). The latter category includes large durable goods (e.g., sofas, mattresses, air conditioners, and refrigerators).