Taiwan sets the pace for PET recycling

Manufacturers and consumers were in danger of losing PET bottles in Taiwan, but recycling technology and public education saved the day and showed the first hints consumer concern for the environment

AS ENVIRONMENTALISTS BEGAN to make their presence known in Taiwan several years ago, PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles were an easy target. About 260 million are used each year there — strong and lightweight, PET is an ideal container material, widely used for carbonated drinks and other liquids. Most bottles were simply thrown away after use, so environmental activists pressured the government to make them a priority for recycling efforts.

Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration put PET bottles at the top of its list of 15 items for mandatory recycling under the Waste Disposal Law of 1989. Recovery rates were set at a stiff 50 per cent of bottles produced. Due to this pressure and government action, doing something on PET collection and recycling was suddenly considered proof of good corporate citizenship.

Manufacturers and retailers complain that PET was unfairly singled out. In fact, PET accounts for "less than 0.2 per cent of Taiwan’s total municipal solid waste and only 0.5 per cent of annual plastics production," according to the president of Taiwan Recycling Corporation (TRC), Dr Allen Yeh. And as one soft drink seller complains, "Go into a supermarket and look around. Everybody categorises all plastic bottles as PET, but basically soft drinks are packaged in PET. Bottled water uses polythene (PE) containers, and other plastics are not included in the mix." However, fairly or unfairly, PETs were singled out for action, perhaps partly because the government knew soft drink manufacturers are aggressive and would do something about it, he says.

And they did. When a landmark rule issued by the EPA on June 25, 1989 declared that collecting, treating and recycling of PET bottles was the responsibility of manufacturers, importers and retailers, the soft drinks industry rose to the challenge.

It was not long before the effort could boast a fairly high recovery success rate, 35 per cent of bottles returned, in just one year. Once it knew a percentage of bottles would be returned, the soft drink manufacturers’ association (Taiwan Regional Association of Carbonated Beverage Industries) went one step further and commissioned a study by ACC

Development Corporation which led to formal presentation of the PET Collection and Recycling Programme to the EPA just four months later. The resulting Hsi-Fu project involves several activities. To coordinate project planning and execution, a charge on PET bottles goes to support a PET management fund. A collection system has been established for the whole of Taiwan, with collection handled by private companies assigned specific areas. The Hsi-Fu project is working so well that Yeh predicts it will be an example for other industries to follow.

Polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) containers are another concern of Taiwan’s environmental movement. Consumers have pressured for a paper substitute, and at least one major school system has already banned the use of polystyrene. (The new Environment Foundation observed Earth Day ‘91 by burying PET bottles and polystyrene containers in a time capsule, to be dug up and examined after 50 years). Unfortunately, paper used to wrap food gets soiled, making recycling difficult, and waxed paper is not recyclable at all, according to director of environmental systems firm ERM, Taiwan, Donald Grogan.

High-visibility promotion of collection and separation of recyclable refuse was begun in November 1989, when 180 igloo-shaped containers dubbed "ET" (as in Extraterrestrials) were placed in Taipei. The containers were colour-coded for three types of rubbish — metal, plastic and glass — and painted with funny faces. To raise public interest, a naming competition was held. The EPA distributed two million entry-form postcards to schools, and 700,000 were returned. The winning names were Golden Mouse for the yellow (metals) bin. Red Pepper for the red (plastics) and Jade Frog for the green (glass) bin. The first igloos were installed on November Il, a Sunday. and children and parents came to "feed" them, kicking off a gargantuan feast of over 2.4 million bottles to date.

The igloos show the potential of educational activities for communicating environmental ideas, says AVP-external affairs staffer at Taiwan Coca-Cola and member of the PET waste bottle management committee of the Taiwan Soft Drink Association, Kathy Ho. "We have collected close to 100 million bottles since the project began," she says. "And we have received numerous requests from communities, schools, military bases and industrial zones for igloo placement. Some communities have even stationed people at the sites to explain the process."

Where do the collectables go? In December 1990, Asia’s first PET recycling plant was opened in Taiwan. The US$10-million plant is owned and operated by TRC, a joint venture between Far Eastern Textile and the pan-Asia division of Shin Kong Group, two of the island’s major fibre makers. At capacity the plant will be able to process 7,500 metric tons of PET containers a year, nearly three-quarters of Taiwan’s consumption, generating 20 metric tons of PET flakes a day which can be used to manufacture such products as non-woven synthetic fibres, fibre fill and plastic strapping. Additional recycling technology is being evaluated.

Taiwan has gone about it the right way, says Grogan. The government leaves implementation of collection and recycling up to Taiwan’s rich supply of entrepreneurs. If such a project was extended to all rubbish, efficient separation of the waste could enable the recycling of 25 to 40 per cent of Taiwan’s refuse, estimates Taiwan Recycling’s Dr Yeh.

Not all of Taiwan’s marketers are sure there has been a meaningful growth of consumer awareness in the country. Supermarket chains are actively supporting recycling efforts, but are not publicising their involvement because they fail to see any real marketing benefits in it. Consumers are still showing little interest, they say. "They are basically apathetic," is a typical comment. "It’s the environmentalists who are pressuring the government for waste collection and obviously they carry a lot of weight with legislators," one says. "Certainly we are not seeing any activism yet."

Even so, the time may soon be ripe for green marketing in Taiwan. "Consumers are beginning to realise the importance of environmental protection in Taiwan," says Kathy Ho. "If we have a good programme designed specifically for them and tell them what kind of support we need, it encourages them to help us."