The Impacts of Socio-economic Conditions to the Compositions of Municipal Solid Waste in Taiwan

Abstract

To make a sustainable waste management plan, Taiwan government surveyed the quality and quantity of municipal solid waste in different counties of Taiwan. It is believed that human activities can influence the generation of municipal solid waste (Chen, 2003). In order to figure out the reasons that resulting in the different pattern in waste quality, this study tried to propose a series of analytical procedures including Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to indicate the roles of socio-economic conditions in waste generation. The results can help and provide evidence and advice for the government to develop policies of waste management.