The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday smokers may be required to carry personal portable ashtrays to dispose of their cigarette butts before the end of the year.
Cigarettes are not only harmful to health, they also pollute the environment, an official said.
Citing a “conservative” estimate, Yuan Shaw-ying (袁紹英), director-general of the EPA's Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substance Management, said that more than 10 billion cigarette butts litter the nation's streets, parks and gutters each year.
Such a large number is a product of the nation's high number of smokers, with about 18 percent of Taiwanese — or 4.2 million people — being regular smokers, Yuan said.
“Cigarette butt littering is a serious problem in many countries. For example, about 122 tonnes of cigarette butts are collected daily on the UK's streets, which make up about two-thirds of the nation's street garbage,” he said.
Taiwan has a similar problem, especially after the implementation of the Tobacco Hazard Prevention and Control Act (菸害防制法), Yuan said.
“We have received complaints from people that the number of cigarette butts littering public places where smoking is not banned, such as parks, has increased,” Yuan said.
This may be because smokers eager to finish their cigarettes before they enter places where smoking is prohibited just throw the butts outside the non-smoking area, he said.
The EPA will ask local environmental protection bureaus to conduct public education programs on smoking and littering and draft regulations to fine those who litter, Yuan said.
“For example, in Japan, small personal portable ash-trays are prevalent and fashionable, and made in many different styles … We are looking into existing laws that will allow us to mandate people bring their own ashtrays to reduce littering,” Yuan said.
Besides fining smokers up to NT$6,000 for littering, local governments may also consider penalizing people who walk and smoke at the same time, he added.
But the most effective way to reduce cigarette butt littering is to help smokers quit, Yuan said.
“Tobacco is listed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a group 1 carcinogen, meaning it definitely causes cancer. With less people smoking, not only can we reduce waste, we can also improve public health,” he said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS