THE ESTIMATION OF WASTE PACKAGING CONTAINERS GENERATED BY HOUSEHOLDS IN TAIWAN

摘要

The importers and manufacturers who import or produce products with packaging containers are charged a recycling fee in Taiwan. The amount of waste packaging containers used for calculating the recycling charge is based upon the amount declared by importers and manufacturers which might be underestimated. This study aims to estimate the amount of waste packaging containers generated by households in Taiwan and also explores its distribution. The sampling survey and ratio estimation are conducted for estimating the recycled amount; while the refuse sampling method for municipal solid waste composition is employed to estimate the un-recycled waste packaging containers. The estimated total amount of waste packaging containers in 2011 generated by households in Taiwan is 696,511 m.t, of which, 79.49% of the waste packaging containers were recycled and 20.51% were landfilled or incinerated. This study shows that the amount of waste packaging containers declared by importers and producers is underestimated around 20%.