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Sprout How can we improve the understanding and use of Taiwan’s recycling system to reduce environmental impact?
BEYOND THE PLATE
PAPER Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, and enough energy to power an average home for six months.
GLASS Glass can be recycled infinitely without any loss in quality. Recycled crushed glass melts at a lower temperature than raw silica sand, so it requires far less energy and reduces carbon emissions.
FOOD WASTE uncooked food
cooked food
molded food
An average family throws away about 1,500 dollars worth of food every year. Composting that food instead creates rich soil that helps new plants grow.
HARD PLASTIC Hard plastic containers like milk jugs or detergent bottles can take up to 450 years to decompose in a landfill.
SOFT PLASTIC
METAL
The World Counts. (2023). Paper waste facts. The World Counts. https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Paper-Waste-Facts 10 Fascinating facts about glass recycling you need to know. (2020, February 10). Wsrecycling.Co.Uk. https://wsrecycling.co.uk/news/post/10fascinating-facts-about-glass-recycling-you-need-to-know/ Food waste: 13 Facts you need to know | freerice. (n.d.). Freerice.Com. Retrieved October 27, 2026, from https://freerice.com/blog/foodwaste-13-facts-you-need-know
Magazine survey data 60% of people responded that they know how to recycle some items but not everything 34.2% of people think glass is the most confusing item to recycle.
more than half of the people responded that family and school taught them how to recycle the people who don’t know how to recycle reported that they think the system is too complicated, and also they don’t know how to determine which items belong in what category More than half of the people think that clearer labels would make recycling easier