Waste management and recycling education in Taiwan

Tzu-Chau CHANG, Chi Kin John LEE

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapters

Abstract

Taiwan has implemented waste management and recycling education in schools since the 1980s and been recognized with her higher recycling rate than many developed nations worldwide, as reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2016. This chapter reviews the projects and policies of Environmental Education to investigate their impact on school waste management and recycling education in Taiwan. These influential projects include the Green School Partnership Network Project, Sustainable Campus Project, Environmental Protection School Award, and the National Environmental Education Award. Important policies are the Grades 1–9 National Curriculum Framework, Environmental Education Act and Grades 1–12 National Curriculum Framework. The chapter indicates that the development of waste management and recycling education in Taiwan consists of different stages: schoolyard cleaning activities; garbage classification and recycling; environmental management of school, curriculum and teaching; and practical practices in daily lives. The chapter concludes a set of waste management and recycling education elements: being relevant to daily life and achievable goals; following the global trend of environmental education; applying a systematic operation and a whole school approach; infusing waste management and recycling into the school curriculum and over-all learning; and considering responsibility and sustainable development. The chapter also proposes with a strategy for waste management and recycling education in schools: offering incentives, such as reducing costs of waste disposal, encouraging learning through activities, building networks to share and promote recycling education, infusing waste management and recycling into the school curriculum, awarding for systemic operation, and applying the whole school approach to recycling education. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEnvironmental sustainability and education for waste management: Implications for policy and practice
EditorsWinnie Wing Mui SO, Cheuk Fai CHOW, John Chi Kin LEE
Place of PublicationSingapore
PublisherSpringer
Pages141-157
ISBN (Electronic)9789811391736
ISBN (Print)9789811391729
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Citation

Chang, T.-C., & Lee, J. C. K. (2019). Waste management and recycling education in Taiwan. In W. W. M. So, C. F. Chow, & J. C. K. Lee (Eds.), Environmental sustainability and education for waste management: Implications for policy and practice (pp. 141-157). Singapore: Springer.

Keywords

  • Recycling education
  • Environmental education
  • Environmental education act
  • Green school partnership network
  • Sustainable campus project

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