Discussion of Current Resource Recycling Policy in Taiwan

The research is to discuss the current resource recycling and recovery policy, which was enacted by Environmental Protection Administrative (EPA) in Taiwan. For the past few years, the solid waste generated in Taiwan has greatly increased about 5 % per year. In addition to the construction of landfill sites and incineration plants, 4 R techniques (Reduction, Reuse, Recycle and Recovery) were also publicized among the citizens and then promulgated to furthermore manage these increased solid waste. Although the regulations have been carried out to a great success, they still need to be revised and updated since solid waste contains varieties of different materials. Therefore, this research discusses the current regulation and makes suggestion for future regulation revision. From the results of this study, energy recovery was suggested to be emphasized in the regulation. Energy could be recovered from materials such as waste tires, and all kinds of plastic containers. Waste tires and most of the plastic containers made of hydrocarbon species, which contains great heating values, should be considered as one of the alternatives for the resource recycling.