Taiwan will ban the use of food waste as pig feed nationwide from 2027, forcing a sweeping overhaul of how the island disposes of more than 2,000 tonnes of scraps a day and raising concerns that incinerators could be overwhelmed before new recycling facilities are ready.
Under a transition plan unveiled this week, only business-generated food waste will be temporarily allowed for pig feed for one year from January 2026. Household food waste will be barred immediately from the practice.
The island’s shift away from food-waste pig feeding accelerated after an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak was confirmed in October 2025 at a pig farm in Taichung, prompting an emergency nationwide ban on food-waste feeding.
Although the exact source of the infection is still being investigated, agricultural authorities repeatedly warned that mixed household food waste, which often contains meat, fish and unidentifiable scraps, poses a significant biosecurity risk if not sterilised thoroughly.
At the same time, Taiwan’s Environment Ministry aims to triple bioenergy and black soldier fly processing capacity and nearly double composting facilities over the next three years. By 2028, officials say Taiwan will no longer need to incinerate or landfill food waste.
But government projections show a short-term gap. Taiwan currently produces an average of 2,115 tonnes of food waste daily. While pig feeding can absorb around 731 tonnes and reuse facilities handle about 1,100 tonnes, roughly 284 tonnes per day still require burning or burial.
“Incineration is only an emergency measure,” said deputy environment minister Shen Chih-hsu, stressing that reuse remained the policy priority.
Taiwan incinerates about 4.5–5 million tonnes of waste a year, with roughly 60–65 per cent of its municipal rubbish going to waste-to-energy plants – one of the highest shares in Asia. Only Japan and Singapore incinerate a larger proportion of their municipal waste, mainly due to similarly tight land constraints. By contrast, countries such as South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia rely far more on landfills.
Large cities face the greatest pressure. Environment minister Peng Chi-ming said food waste accounted for around 10 per cent of incinerated waste in Taichung, 8–9 per cent in Taipei and 6–7 per cent in New Taipei City. Taipei is expanding composting and anaerobic digestion, while Tainan and Kaohsiung are prioritising bioenergy projects.
Pig farms that continue using food waste before the 2027 deadline must pass joint inspections by the end of 2025, install real-time monitoring systems and GPS tracking on waste transport vehicles, and comply with strict cooking standards to prevent disease. Regulators have long viewed food-waste feeding as difficult to monitor, especially among small-scale farms that may not strictly follow cooking and disinfection rules.
Household waste collection will not change, but residential buildings will face higher costs as licensed private operators replace pig farmers as food waste collectors.
Environmental groups warn that rising treatment costs could undermine the policy. Composting fees have surged to NT$5,000–8,000 (US$160–256) per tonne, up from NT$1,000–2,000 (US$32–64) previously, according to the Taiwan Watch Institute. Incineration remains cheaper at about NT$2.5 (US$0.08) per kilogram.
“If reuse stays more expensive than burning, operators will still choose incineration, or worse, illegal dumping,” said institute secretary-general Hsieh Ho-lin.
Hsieh also disputed official waste estimates, arguing that Taiwan produces closer to 4,600 tonnes of food waste per day – more than twice the government figure – based on per-capita data.
With sanitation budgets tight and household sorting still patchy, he said much of Taiwan’s food waste continues to be mixed into general rubbish.
“Stopping incinerators from burning food waste entirely will be much harder than the government suggests,” he added.
