Reduce, reuse and recycle. Those are the "3 Rs" of the environmental movement. Last year, efforts to generate less waste and recycle more materials benefitted Taiwan residents to the tune of NT$5.876 billion., the EPA said yesterday.
Statistics released by the EPA's Recycling Management Foundation showed that 1.27 million tonnes of material were recycled last year. That's about a 20 percent increase over the 2001 total of 1.06 million tonnes.
According to Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏), deputy secretary-general of the EPA's Recycling Management Foundation, in the last five years residents learned not only to recycle more but also to reduce the amount of waste they generate.
Statistics show that the amount of waste generated last year was 7.25 million tonnes, down considerably from 8.88 million tonnes in 1997.
On average, Yeh said, the amount of waste generated by each resident has been decreased to 0.895kg last year from 1.143kg in 1997.
"The beneficial result of efforts resulting from recycling last year is about NT$ 5.876 billion," Yeh said.
That benefit comes from money saved on incineration costs and from the sale of recyclable materials, EPA officials said.
According to EPA statistics, the increased amount of recycled materials includes both regulated materials (such as plastics) and unregulated materials (such as old clothes). In fact, the amount of unregulated materials increased sharply by 59 percent.
Last year, some 555,000 tonnes of unregulated materials were recycled. In 2001, the amount of recycled unregulated materials was 348,000 tonnes.
EPA officials said that the increased amount of unregulated reusable articles could be attributed to regulations pertaining to waste recycling enforced at all jurisdictions in 2001.
Officials said that, for the sake of sustainable development, recycling services provided by local authorities are now available in all jurisdictions, making it convenient for residents to recycle.
In addition, officials said, local governments are promoting recycling by providing community-based guidance and assistance.
Although the increase in the amount of regulated articles was not as dramatic (1.3 percent), it too was significant.
According to the EPA, the number of recycled printer cartridges -- which became regulated items in 2001 -- was up 144 percent, the biggest increase among all regulated materials.
The increase in the amount of recycled dry batteries was also up significantly -- 77.7 percent. That result could be attributed to both the increased subsidies for recyclers and efforts made by public schools to collect and recycle the batteries.
There was also a 38.2 percent increase in the number of recycled computer monitors. Officials said that falling prices on LCD monitors was prompting consumers to dump their old heavy monitors in exchange for the new sleek ones.
Officials said that they had not precisely calculated the overall recycling rate for last year but they estimate it would be about 17 percent. The average recycling rate in 2001 was 13.47 percent.
Environmentalists said that while the EPA is promoting recycling, it should at the same time review its burning-oriented waste management policy.
In the 1990s, the EPA estimated that by the end of this year it would have 36 incinerators in operation, capable of burning 30,400 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. However, due in part to recycling, most of the country's 19 operating incinerators don't have enough household waste to operate efficiently.
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