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 Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
DO THEY BITE IT? Cats have better memories than people might think, but their motivation is based entirely around the chance of getting fed Cats can remember the identity of the people who fed them the day before, Taipei-based veterinarians said on Friday, debunking a popular myth that cats have a short memory. If a stray does not recognize the person who fed them the previous day, it is likely because they are not carrying food and the cat has no reason to recognize them, said Wu Chou Animal Hospital head Chen Chen-huan (陳震寰). “When cats come to a human bearing food, it is coming for the food, not the person,” he said. “The food is the key.” Since the cat’s attention is on the food, it
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and
RSS