The government’s policy to ban beverage shops from using single-use plastic cups is running ahead of schedule as most cities and counties nationwide reported that the ban is already in effect, while other jurisdictions are preparing to implement the ban by July of next year, the Ministry of Environment said.
Taiwan’s milk tea drinks, which combine tapioca pearls, fruit and other ingredients, have caught young people’s fancy around the world, but have also created a huge pollution problem, with 4 billion single-use cups in Taiwan alone ending up in garbage dumps each year.
In the ministry’s latest report, the local governments of the nation’s six major municipalities of Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, along with Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County, have already enforced the ban, with violators subject to a fine of between NT$1,200 to NT$6,000 in accordance with the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法).
Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times
Pingtung and Chiayi Counties are finalizing their bans by the end of December, while the nation’s other jurisdictions are preparing to enforce it by July next year, meaning that all of Taiwan has moved quicker than the originally slated deadline at the end of next year, officials said.
The only exception is Kinmen County, which plans to implement the policy by September next year, the report said.
Taipei was the first local government to enforce the ban, starting in December last year, following the ministry’s Parties Subject to and Means for Single-use Takeaway Beverage Cups Restrictions (一次用飲料杯限制使用對象及實施方式), dispatching city inspectors to check on the more than 2,000 “hand-shaken” beverage shops within city limits, officials said.
The report said that all shop proprietors have complied with the ban measures and found no violations, as inspectors said most shops have reusable cup rental services in place, a discount for bringing one’s own reusable cup as well as other practices to replace disposable plastic cups.
The survey showed that one in 10 Taipei residents carried their own reusable cup last July, climbing to 19 percent in July this year, an estimated reduction of 49 million single-use cups in a year, Taipei city government official Lin Yu-hui (林鈺惠) said.
New Taipei City began the ban for its 2,700 beverage shops in May, and reported that all of them had complied with the regulation, based on inspections at 993 premises through the end of last month.
Taoyuan implemented its ban for the city’s more than 1,000 beverage shops on July 1, with most proprietors switching to paper cups. Inspections conducted until September this year found violations by only two shops. The city’s ban reduced an estimated 72.6 million plastic cups in a year, the report said.
Kaohsiung, which has 2,867 listed beverage shops, has made inspection rounds and assisted in compliance measures since implementing its ban in July, with reports of 98 percent of beverage shops complying. City officials estimate that this translated into a reduction of 124 million single-use plastic cups within one year, lowering carbon emissions by about 3,072 tonnes.
The ministry’s report said that most proprietors have expressed a willingness to comply, but some shops have pointed out that one plastic cup costs NT$0.2, whereas one paper cup costs more than NT$1 and about NT$2 for the brand’s logo to be printed on it, so proprietors can only reduce costs by ordering cups in bulk. Others complained that the strength of paper cups does not last long due to the moisture drawn from the typical high humidity environment.
Another proprietor said his shop specializes in making multicolor layered drinks, but that paper cups conceal the layered colors, taking away the drinks’ aesthetic appeal, adding that consumers had complained that the plastic seal on paper cups is also more prone to peeling off.
“Reusable cup rental services are mainly provided by convenience stores and fast food restaurants... Right now, we want to fully implement the ban against single-use plastic cups. Then we could draw on feedback and input from all sides and look at the ban’s effectiveness to assess possibly broadening it to other sectors,” ministry Resource Circulation Administration deputy chief (資源循環署) Wang Yueh-pin (王嶽斌) said on Sunday.
Additional reporting by Cheng Shu-ting, Weng Yu-huang, Chen Fong-li and Jason Pan
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