During these years, NIEA did its best to help establish more than 50 private laboratories, of which are actively involved in environmental analysis area. This creates an environment in which private enterprises and the public will unhesitatingly abide by environmental laws and regulations. Municipal waste represents general solid waste such as refuse or discarded items. Industrial waste can be further divided into hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Hazardous wastes produced by industries are toxic and dangerous, whereas non-toxic wastes are everything else.
Municipal waste is taken care of by the government.
Solid waste disposal is of utmost concern to the public. About 40 percent of environmental nuisance disputes focused on solid waste. Two-thirds of the EPA's annual budget is directed to solid waste management in Taiwan. As shown in Figure 1, the amount of municipal solid waste produced annually in Taiwan has nearly tripled during the past 15 years. On average, each individual in Taiwan produced 0.63 kilograms of garbage per day in 1979, and reached 1.12 kilograms per day in 1994 .