Solid waste is a problem that every city faces; sustainable solid waste management is, therefore, an emerging topic of interest to the academia and policy-makers. Taipei City in Taiwan has achieved extraordinary results through its waste management strategies and it has caught the world’s attention. It serves as a benchmarking example for this research. Hong Kong, however, is experiencing a tremendous waste problem and waste management difficulty. In fact, they once collided in the waste management journey, when the two applied waste disposal and recovery. But Hong Kong chose a different path in 1997; it dropped the incineration plan and relied solely on landfill, while Taipei City progressed from waste recovery to a more sustainable process, that is: waste recycling, reusing a...[ Read more ]

Solid waste is a problem that every city faces; sustainable solid waste management is, therefore, an emerging topic of interest to the academia and policy-makers. Taipei City in Taiwan has achieved extraordinary results through its waste management strategies and it has caught the world’s attention. It serves as a benchmarking example for this research. Hong Kong, however, is experiencing a tremendous waste problem and waste management difficulty. In fact, they once collided in the waste management journey, when the two applied waste disposal and recovery. But Hong Kong chose a different path in 1997; it dropped the incineration plan and relied solely on landfill, while Taipei City progressed from waste recovery to a more sustainable process, that is: waste recycling, reusing and reduction (3R). The two, therefore, have a very different waste situation today. This research used primary data collected from field trips and interviews, and triangulated with secondary data gathered from official documents and academic journals. It is recognized that five reasons, including a difference in city constraints, economic sector, governance structure, idea on trans-boundary issue and market structure, are the elements that leads to the divergence of waste management. The management differences are shaped by three major factors namely cultural influence to governance, policy culture that the cities adopted as well as communicative action done between the top management and the society. The differences demonstrated that there are aspects Hong Kong should learn from, so at the end of the research, some short recommendations are provided. It is hoped that the research identifies some soft issues that policy-makers often missed out, namely culture and communication, such that it can help structure a better waste management plan for both cities in the future.