A. Introduction

Bulk waste items include discarded furniture（sofas, beds, tables/desks and chairs, cabinets/wardrobes, and garden trimmings）.In the past, there was a lack of proper recycling and reuse system in Taiwan, and they were often disposed of by incineration or landfill. Some bulk wastes may still be reused after minor repairs; even if beyond repairs, useful resources such as plastics, metals or wood may still be recovered after they are broken up for recycling. Such a recycling activity will be able to reduce the generation and treatment of bulk waste, reduce resource consumption, lessen environmental burdens, and help achieve Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration's policy of "Full Sorted Collection and Zero Waste", and thus create a sustainable resource utilization society.

B. Current Status

n 2015, 63,578 tonnes of bulk waste is recycled in Taiwan, resulting in a 43.50% recycled/collected ratio. EPA statistics show that in 2015, 146,196 tonnes of bulk waste were collected, which took up 2.0 weight percent of all household waste and average 400 tonnes per day. Of the bulk waste collected, 54.07% is waste furniture, 35.20% being waste wood, and the rest contains some useable plastics and metals.The amounts of bulk waste recycled for previous years aer listed in Table below：

The amounts of bulk waste recycled for previous years aer listed

Fiscal Year	Total (tonne)	Recycle and reuse (tonne)	Incineration (tonne)	Landfill (tonne)
2005	235,554	29,575	144,214	61,765
2006	192,571	28,646	126,871	37,054
2007	181,795	31,230	126,072	24,494
2008	163,224	44,466	105,799	12,959
2009	147,790	65,473	70,192	12,125
2010	159,665	80,217	70,044	9,404
2011	140,882	80,326	56,619	3,937
2012	136,248	88,983	45,142	2,123
2013	130,851	84,011	44,674	2,166
2014	120,476	65,837	52,918	1,721
2015	147,072	63,352	75,598	7,941

Besides open display of the repaired furniture and bicycles, the environmental protection bureaus of the local governments have also conducted unscheduled auctions to expand their market. In addition, the Taipei City Government has set up dedicated websites for such merchandizes, and posted the photos of such goods on the websites to facilitate the buyers’ selection. In cities like Taichung and Tainan, the venues and displays for such recycled resources have been carefully designed to create their own characteristics, and have been frequented and treated by the residents as local attractions.

C. Expected Benefits

In the past, bulk waste was either burned in the incinerators or sent to the landfills, which is both environmentally unfriendly and uneconomical. After EPA's introduction of bulk waste recycling program, repaired furniture and bicycles are offered to the public, waste wooden materials are ground up and used in the kitchen waste composting process, and the huge amount of water-damaged furniture and fallen trees generated after natural disasters are properly disposed of..

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