Waste reduction and waste spillovers: evidence from unit-based pricing of municipal solid waste in Taiwan

ABSTRACT This study evaluates the effects of unit-based pricing (UBP) of municipal solid waste and a mandatory recycling (MR) policy on waste reduction, recycling, illegal dumping, and garbage tourism incidents in major municipalities of Taiwan by using a quasi-experimental framework. The results suggest that the UBP policy curbed the quantity of unsorted waste and increased disposal of biodegradable waste but did not significantly increase recycling. In contrast, the MR policy effectively boosted biodegradable waste and recycling but did not necessarily decrease the amount of unsorted waste. There was a temporary increase in illegal dumping following the UBP policy. No evidence indicates that waste was shipped to nearby urban municipalities that had no UBP policy but likely to a neighbor rural municipality. The efficiency of the UBP in Taiwan is also discussed and compared with similar programs in other countries in this study.