A ban on giving single-use plastic straws in about 8,000 venues is to take effect from July, and is expected to reduce the number of plastic straws used by 100 million per year, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
After announcing a draft for the ban on June 8 last year, the agency held several public hearings to gather opinions and revised some of its content.
Starting from July, about 8,000 venues ranging from government agencies, public and private schools, department stores, shopping malls and fast-food chains would be prohibited from offering customers eating at the venues single-use plastic straws, EPA Deputy Minister Shen Chih-hsiu (沈志修) said.
Photo: Liu Li-jen, Taipei Times
Those purchasing takeaways would not be affected for the moment, he said, adding that the agency would evaluate how to limit the use of plastic straws in take-out orders in a year’s time.
Biodegradable straws with an EPA-certified logo and plastic straws attached to beverages during the manufacturing process would not be banned, Shen said.
Also banned are straws made of paper, sugarcane fiber or other eco-friendly materials that contain plastic, even if it accounts for less than 10 percent of their weight, he said.
The agency had not included such straws in the draft, as most paper-made lunchboxes contain a plastic layer for insulation that accounts for less than 10 percent of their weight, Department of Waste Management Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said.
Over the past year, some developers have introduced paper straws without the plastic layer, so the agency considers it possible to ban those that contain plastic, she said.
Biodegradable straws refer to those made from polylactic acid, which decompose more easily than entirely plastic straws, Lai said.
Taiwanese use nearly 3 billion plastic straws per year, department senior technical specialist Lee Yi-hua (李宜樺) said.
From July, venues contravening the regulation would be warned, while repeat offenders would face a fine of NT$1,200 to NT$6,000 under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), he said.
From July next year, offenders would be fined without receiving a warning, he said.
Despite some disagreement about the proposed ban last year, it has triggered new commercial opportunities, as eco-friendlier straws continue to be launched and reusable straws are selling better online, Lee said.
The agency would put up notices on the doors of affected venues to remind consumers of the ban, department technical specialist Teng Pi-shin (鄧丕信) said.
McDonald’s Taiwan has said that it plans to implement its no-straw policy nationwide by the end of next month, and would be introducing a new lid to enable people to sip cold drinks without a straw.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS