Four-in-one waste recycling performance of local governments in Taiwan

Abstract

Since 1998, the EPA (Environmental Protection Administration) of Taiwan has been promoting the four-in-one recycling system to reduce waste production and increase the collection of recyclable resources, but there has been no objective evaluation to assess the recycling performance of local governments. This paper introduces a useful indicator (recycling efficiency) for accurate and meaningful measures to achieve better recycling performance and efficiency, and analyses the recycling efficiency of 23 local governments in Taiwan during 1998–2004. The data envelopment analysis, with multiple inputs and outputs, is used in constructing a recycling efficiency indicator. This study takes up four input variables, including the budget for environmental protection per capita, waste-cleaning vehicles per capita, waste-cleaning persons per square kilometre, and participants in promoting activities per capita frequency, along with two outputs (recycling volume per capita and recycling rate). The local governments are divided into three groups, and four environmental variables are incorporated to analyse the effects. According to the results, Keelung City has the highest performance, and Kaohsiung City and Taipei County the least. The high-education population proportion, real mean household income, and urban population proportion all have a positive relation with recycling efficiency. These results may help the EPA and local governments form feasible and efficient recycling targets.