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Green Government, Policy

Taiwan recycles 50 per cent of its e-waste

By Alice Kok | 15 October 2008

Taiwan has seen a dramatic increase in the volume of waste electronic and electrical products in recent years. Following several years of implementation of the “4-in-1” recycling scheme, the recycling rate of these products has now surpassed an impressive 50 per cent. Working to put the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system into full play, and make recycling targets more easily achievable, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is actively guiding manufacturers in the setting up of self-administered recycling, clearance and treatment systems.

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The EU’s Waste Electronics and Electrical Equipment Directive came into force in on 13 August 2005, compelling each nation in the EU to establish their own system for recycling and disposing of electronic waste according to the standards laid out in the directive. And since 1998, products that have been recyclable amount to 12.84 million domestic appliances and 12.71 electronic devices.

However, electronic products have a lifespan of anywhere between two and ten years, which makes estimating the volumes of materials to be disposed of or recycled difficult. This in turn makes environmental impact and cost difficult to assess and makes overall management of recycling of these products more troublesome.

Currently, the EPA is attempting to overcome this by putting effort into evaluating current overall environmental costs by proxy through evaluations of secondary pollution prevention costs, regeneration costs, and waste disposal costs. The EPA is also actively promoting green production and green design, adopting source management to reduce the degree of environmental impact and management complexity.

Although the number of different items currently declared as mandatory recyclables in Taiwan is still far below that of the EU (where over 100 products in 10 main categories are listed) the domestic recycling value of 3.9 kg per person annually achieved in 2007 compares favorably with the EU target for member states of 4 kg per person annually. As of the last few years, the recycling rate has averaged over 50 per cent.

Based on the principles of competitiveness and EPR, the implementation of the Waste Disposal Act and the Resource Recycling Act has demonstrated that the scope of Taiwan’s recycling policies are in accordance with international standards and its recycling performance of reuse facilities has led to the development of similar systems in China and Japan.

Experts from Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the Republic of South Africa and some countries in Central America and South America have come to Taiwan to observe in detail how recycling facilities here operate.

Domestic recycling operating models rely on full public participation in an open and comprehensive four-in-one system; the public, local refuse collection crews, recycling and treatment organisations, and recycling funds. This guarantees that waste electronic and electrical products are recycled and reused or disposed of properly.