Taipei City has begun its new garbage-collection program, paid for by the fees for garbage bags. It not only charges people in a manner which, much more accurately than previously, reflects the amount of waste they produce, but is also intended to solve other garbage-related problems and to provide economic incentives to reduce and recycle waste.
The Taipei City Government has also announced goals of "zero-burying"
Mass production has shaped a culture under which everything is disposable. Some predict that garbage will eventually bring about the downfall of capitalism. Such a view exemplifies the gravity and complexity of garbage problems.
Many advanced countries have developed environmentally sustainable garbage-disposal policies to reduce risks posed by garbage. Such policies can be divided into four categories known as the "4R's" -- Reduce, Reuse (compost), Recycle and Regenerate (resources). In order to promote environmental sustainability, we should focus on the low-tech processes of reducing and reusing.
As recycling and regeneration are after-the-fact remedies, they cannot reduce garbage production. When concepts of waste recycling and regeneration are inappropriately publicized, they may in fact lead to more consumption and thus produce more trash. Plastic-bottle producers, who recycle their bottles as a means of easing the consumer's conscience, are a case in point. They are unwilling to reuse their recycled bottles because -- despite the cost of recycling them -- it remains cheaper to produce new ones. Most of the recycled bottles still end up in landfills or incinerators.
Regeneration fares no better. Although incinerators reduce the quantity of garbage and generate new energy, they produce much less energy than they consume. Incineration also produces toxic gases such as dioxins. An incinerator needs a certain quantity of garbage to be financially profitable. More than 30 incinerators have been built to process 90 percent of current garbage volume. Garbage reduction therefore runs a risk of being sacrificed for the profitability of incinerators.
So far Taiwan has relied on waste recycling and regenera-tion, although government recycling projects have had little impact so far. Large-scale construction of incinerators will not only prolong the problem; it will add complications. The ultimate solution to the garbage problem is a return to reduction and reuse, approaches that focus on environmental sustainability.
In addition to collecting fees through bag charges, the government should require businesses to reduce garbage production and excessive packaging. Once consumers become motivated toward environmental protection, they will themselves create the impetus for business to produce environmentally friendly products.
In short, garbage reduction and efficiency of resource consumption are the fundamental solutions to the garbage crisis. They not only provide for the solving of garbage woes without creating additional problems, but also help to develop a more flexible, diversified, self-reliant, and sustainable economy. We hope the new fee system will place us on the right track. Perhaps one day we will indeed have a "zero-garbage" society.
Lee Yung-jaan is a professor of land and economics at National Chengchi University.
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