6.1 Combining case and context
6.1.2 Between 1998 and 2006
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Incentive interaction during periods
Ideological incentive provided by speech was subsequently strengthened by the initial income of recyclables: synergize
6.1.2 Between 1998 and 2006
With the implementation of the 4-in-1 recycling approach came marked improvements in terms of alignment towards recycling success. As mentioned in chapter 4.1.1, the system involved a recycling fund which was to be funded by retailers, importers and producers of certain recyclables. This is still an incentive to reduce the use of recyclables and potentially design them for recyclability, for those introducing a product into the Taiwanese market.
This recycling fund is centrally managed by the national government. Part of it is used to fund municipal recyclable collection teams, which were from 1998 onwards mandatory for municipalities. The trucks used for recyclable collection, done together with collection of regular waste, are also paid for by the recycling fund. Returns that recycling generate, end up in projects for the communities, organizations and collection crews that are involved in the original recycling. Compared to previous approaches, local and national government were much more aligned, and much more focusing on recycling.
Local municipalities, too, began implementing policies to stimulate recycling, either through a regulatory approach or a ‘polluter pays’ approach such as the PAYT system in Taipei. As a result, the Taiwanese community as a whole had different, municipality-dependent incentives, with different levels of effectiveness. At the same time, the central government focused on further educating consumers regarding environmental protection.
This started having an effect, and both daily MSW per capita and the recycling rate started heading in a positive direction.
As mentioned before, industry and auditors got funding from the recycling fund allotted, making it much more attractive to engage in resource recycling. Money subsequently trickles down into the recyclables market, which stimulates it considerably. The market,
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now, became a large disseminator of financial incentives for private parties, municipal collection crews, and the Tzu Chi Foundation.
For the latter’s decision makers, the financial incentive arguably became more important to the organization’s interests in 1998 with the establishment of Daai Television. Starting and maintaining a television station without commercial connections is an operation that requires heavy and lasting monetary means. While the TV station does not fully rely on recycling income, the funds gathered by recycling are all directed towards it, which may be assumed to be a substantial source of income. As a result of the stronger financial incentive, but also still holding on to its purposive incentives, the Tzu Chi Foundation further expanded all of its numbers; more volunteers, stations and recycling of all recyclables over this period.
As a result of the new 4-in-1 system’s financial incentives and convenience, all parties involved were interested in improving recycling and reducing waste production, and actively working to improve both. The result for the whole sector was the increase in recycling as described in chapter 4.1.2 figures d, e, f and g. At the same time however, the government still aimed to decrease landfilling and ‘other’ disposal methods by incineration, something that allegedly also resulted in recyclables being burnt.
Table 9 - Model for Tzu Chi’s actions over 1998-2006. Source: own.
Incentives Purposive: Ideological incentive to protect environment
Purposive: Ideological incentive to involve as many people as possible in environmental protection
Material: Financial incentive from recyclable purchasers. Markets strengthened due to subsidies.
Interests Further improving recycling efforts
Maintaining income to fund Daai TV
Actions Trend: Further building of volunteers; smaller increase in number of recycling stations.
Effect on recycling
Relatively less impact as a national-level recycler, but still nominal increasing trend in recycling for paper, plastic and total numbers.
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success Incentive interaction during period
Incentives synergize towards expansion of recycling
6.1.3 2006 and after
In 2006, sorting recyclables from waste by households became mandatory nationwide, at the punishment of a fine, further pushing community members to sort recyclables from their regular MSW. This was, following the numbers, overall an effective implementation;
government collection of recyclables increased and annual MSW per capita continued to fall. The new regulation- key in which was a considerable fine to those that wrongly disposed of their recyclables- pushed towards what was already well on its way to becoming the norm. .
During the same year, the Tzu Chi Foundation started developing textiles for emergency operations from PET-bottles; as described in chapter 5.3. This was with the aim of promoting recyclables as a raw material, and many textile companies over the following years followed suit in using recycled materials for textiles. Moreover, the Tzu Chi Foundation received a largely increased influx of PET-bottles for this year, as a result of both an increase of their own efforts and higher goodwill of community and municipal governments.
In the years after, many companies that had been working on similar technologies increased their technological capabilities and the scale of their operations. This would have increased the competition between collectors for recyclables, although direct evidence for this is lacking. What is known is that the Taiwanese recycled PET industry became one of the most advanced of its kind globally, with a further leading role for Da.ai Technology in domestic efforts to promote the technology and products. Whereas this provided incentives for other actors in the recycling sector, and one of the interests when doing this was to provide businesspeople with an opportunity to contribute to recycling, it did not directly contribute to recycling success as defined in this thesis.
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environmental ideals, after informing people, and they cleaned the local environment;this provided both a kind of material incentive and an ideological incentive. After increased national recycling however, both became less relevant for the community, and resistance grew both in media and the community.
An important factor here are the scavengers, which, as discussed in chapter 4.1.2 rely on recyclables for minimal subsistence, effectively providing a different kind of incentive, based on a social tie with the local people, for the community to recycle. Whereas the material incentive is not directly for the community, their consideration becomes steered by distribution of the material incentive more than before; when viewing it as such, it is best described as a crowding-out pattern of incentive interaction.
Certain is that increased efforts by all reduced the importance of the ideological incentive for the Tzu Chi Foundation volunteers to increase quantities; however, the solidary effect, where volunteers view recycling as a social activity, remained. Judging from interviews and the numbers, the whole organization was supportive of this new development, in which Tzu Chi nominally and relatively plays a smaller role as a collector and sorter. As pointed out by interviewees, there was less need to involve in the process of collecting- and sorting recyclables as the nation’s recycling efforts, by community members, firms and municipal governments, increased by itself. Instead, the focus during these periods was on improving the existing recycling by better sorting, collecting new categories of recyclables (for example, sorts of plastics that were not commonly recycled before) and creating new purposes for the recyclables.
Table 10 - Model for Tzu Chi after 2006. Note: separated by- and related to actions. Source: own.
Action 1 Action 2 Action 3
Incentives Purposive: Ideological incentive to protect environment
Material: Financial incentive from recyclable purchasers
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Interests Maintain income to fund Daai TV Increasing the ‘qualityof recycling’: how well recyclables can be re-used
Offer opportunity to businesspeople to contribute to recycling
Increase well-being of volunteers
Actions Keep collecting, but focus on quantity collected declined
Relatively less impact as a collector:
o Declining trend in paper (nominal) o Declining trend in total recycling
(nominal)
o Stabilized trend in plastics collected and sorted (nominal).
As recycling became common practice, ideological incentive to increase
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