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5 Case description: Tzu Chi’s recycling
This chapter will outline the information gathered from interviews, external media sources, and Tzu Chi’s own sources, to put together a narrative of Tzu Chi’s recycling of plastics and paper in Taiwan. The next chapter will then analyze this case using the theory provided in the literature review section of this thesis. The case is constructed using outside literature, media reports, 27 reports from the Tzu Chi Quarterly, statistics from 20 of the Foundation’s annual reports and four interviews. These are used initially as evidence and for understanding of the case; in Appendix 2, a coding table is furthermore provided to show relevant quotes and citations that back aspects of the case..
To provide more background than regular referencing, this table also shows the edition of the Tzu Chi Quarterly or interview the quote was in, the author and translator of the piece, and finally the quote itself. This as such allows for scrutinizing by other researchers.
5.1 Early recycling
The Tzu Chi’s recycling story starts in 1990 in Taichung (“Environmental Protection Starts at Home” 2010). The event that truly marked the start, mentioned by all sources, was a speech by Master Cheng Yeng on August 23, 1990 at a business school in Taichung. In the stories told and documented now, she is quoted by the Foundation’s own sources and this research’s interviewees as well as outside media to have stimulated Tzu Chi volunteers to “start recycling with your clapping hands” (Daai Television 2010;
O’Neill 2010, p. 167; “Environmental Protection Starts at Home” 2010; Tzu Chi Foundation 2012; Mohamed et al. 2012, p. 146; See Appendix 3, no. 1). The speech was, according to current stories, on a different topic; however, on the way to the venue, Master Cheng Yen observed a street littered with garbage. Finding this absolutely despicable, she felt the need to address it during her lecture that day, aiming to get people to recycle. Recycling for the Foundation has since meant collecting, sorting and accumulating volume, to speak in terms of Wilson et al. (2006).
Interview respondents mention that recycling subsequently started in the backyard of one Tzu Chi member, who effectively was the first recycling volunteer. This is very illustrative of Tzu Chi’s grassroots stimulation approach, which uses Cheng Yen’s
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teachings to inspire small, community level movements that are meant to snowball into larger movements, that was mentioned in last chapter. Remarkable is that this anecdote of the speech, followed by grassroots movements, is the only aspect of the time between 1990 and 1995 that is widely documented. All interview respondents, as well as sources concerning this period, tell the same stories in somewhat differing levels of detail but with the exact same storyline.
Empirical data at this point is scarce, as the Tzu Chi yearbook did not appear until 1992, where it did not contain recycling statistics until 1995. The Tzu Chi quarterly is available as far back as 1996. Interviewees, too, are no more than vaguely familiar with this period, either because they had not yet started volunteering or because it is too long ago for them to fully remember. O’Neill (2010) however, provides a collection of stories gathered from inside the organization that provide some insight into this time.
O’Neill (2010, pp. 166-169) describes how Tzu Chi’s recycling rapidly expanded after the speech. Supposedly a month after, a young volunteer told Cheng Yen that she had started recycling paper, cans and bottles from local families, which earned her NT$5,000 to donate to the Tzu Chi Foundation. An entire village followed her example, collected recyclables and gave these to a local Tzu Chi commissioner to sell, which earned a donation for the Foundation worth NT$8,000. Upon hearing these successes, Master Cheng Yen urged other members of the organization to start recycling too. Over the following years, the Foundation’s recycling rapidly established itself, developing into the
‘Confirmation’-stage of Mohamed et al.’s (2012; 2012b) recycling innovation classification system.
He furthermore continues to sum up Cheng Yen’s goals through pushing for recycling, which are roughly two-fold. Firstly, she aims to save the earth’s ecological system from destruction by mankind’s greed. Secondly, she aims to make people practice the Foundation’s Buddhist ideals: to make members provide firsthand support on the path towards world-improvement (O’Neill 2010, p.166). In addition to regular volunteers, commissioners are required to spend a part of their time as volunteers for the Merit Organization, part of which is spent recycling, and enjoy a higher position in the social hierarchy (See Appendix 3, no. 2).
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In summer 1996, the Foundation reports 100 recycling points in only the Tainan region (Tzu Chi Annual report (慈濟年鑑) 1995; additionally, see Appendix 3, no. 3). This was during the period where national recycling was not completely documented; processing of recyclables was often done on a buy-back basis of packaging by the original producers, importers or retailers for those materials that fell under the EPR arrangement described in chapter 4.1.2. It is not clear through which channels the Tzu Chi Foundation sold their recyclables at the time: either the original producers of packaging or wholesalers and traders.
A lesson that the recycling stations learned quickly was that sorted and well-packaged recyclables fetched a higher fee than unsorted recyclables (Appendix 3, no. 4).
This goes beyond the level of sorting plastic from paper from aluminum cans: different plastics are separated and even paper is cut up to separate the blank segments from the printed parts. As such, most of the Foundation’s recycling plants continuously seek to maximize the fees they receive for the recyclables that are channeled away through the market. Appendix 3, no. 4 shows quotes from five stories in the Tzu Chi Quarterly that convey this, and a volunteer mentioned the same in one of the interviews.
During the 1990s, a few reports indicate that street-sweeping was a maintained way of collecting recyclables (Appendix 3, no. 5). After, the collection seems to have taken place partly from local small or medium enterprises (SMEs) such as shops, market stalls and partly from collection points within the community, providing a relatively convenient way of recycling at the time, and lowering the barriers to recycling. This is the strategy that was still found to be in place right now, during visits and personally shadowing and supporting the recycling teams.
At the end of the 1990s, in 1998, DaAi Television Channel was established nationwide in Taiwan and later worldwide. At this point the income gathered from recycling was used to fund this TV channel, which operates exclusively on the Foundation’s funding; no direct corporate sponsors and thus no paid advertisements are accepted. The recycling income is thus an important way of funding what quite possibly has become the biggest communication channel of Tzu Chi’s cultural mission- and also the rest of the Foundation- to the rest of the world.
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Before the establishment of DaAi Television, it was less clear for what purposes Tzu Chi’s recycling income was used, as the finances of the Foundation since the early 1990s are inaccessible to the public. Early proceedings are mentioned in the Tzu Chi Quarterly of 1997 to have been donated to the Tzu Chi Construction Fund; some other volunteer funds also seem to have received money. Quite certain is that the funds were already a significant source of income; the Tzu Chi Quarterly reports a NT$11.9 million revenue for the Tainan region alone in 1995 (Appendix 3, no. 6).
Thus, since the beginning of Tzu Chi’s recycling, the organization has focused on collecting recyclables, subsequently sorting them and packaging them, effectively preparing them for re-use as resources by industry with the market as a mediator. This means that overtime, some recyclables may run into problems; one interviewee told that currently, due to extremely low oil prices, it is impossible to find parties that procure soft plastics, and these are thus thrown away.
The collecting is typically done within the local community, by connecting with both small businesses such as markets, restaurants and shops and households. These subsequently sort the recyclables, and depending on the deal made may have the recyclables picked up by Tzu Chi volunteers or they bring them to a central collection point. Typically, these are then transported by truck to a recycling station. In the case of the Neihu recycling station, the recyclables were picked up by Tzu Chi on a night where the government does not do pickup, so as to not collide- and provide an alternative for community members that are not available during government pickup times.
This localized approach correlates with the organization of the recycling stations, which are largely autonomous. They firstly set up their own collection. Stations do their own experiments with new recyclables, and decide to visit other stations for learning opportunities, through their own organization. It is, however, true that there are many stations that are set up by volunteers and commissioners that have gained experience at other stations; in this way, knowledge between stations is exchanged and many stations copy common practices.
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In the early 2000s, Tzu Chi’s recycling continued to expand. Using its ever-growing base of recycling volunteers and an increasing number of recycling stations, the Foundation recycled 10.70% and 10.62% of what government recycled in 2002 and 2003, respectively (See figure k in subchapter 5.3). Government agency recyclable collection grew at a higher pace than the Foundation’s recycling, however. Figure k in subchapter 5.3 shows that the Foundation recycled over 50% of what the government recycled (all recyclables; plastics and paper are unknown at this point) in the first year EPA reportedly started collecting recycling. This quickly diminished to a rate below 10% for plastics, papers, and the total for all classes before 2005.