Businesses operating at Taipei government agencies, schools and city venues run by outside contractors would be required to charge for disposable tableware, including cutlery and containers, starting from July 22.
A fee of at least NT$1 would be charged for each disposable container, plate, set of chopsticks or spoon in the approximately 280 designated venues, the city government said in a statement yesterday.
Photo: Chen En-hui, Taipei Times
It estimated that the measure is to cut the use of disposable tableware items by 27 million pieces per year.
The Taipei Department of Environmental Protection said the restriction would be carried out in stages, starting with public spaces and then moving to private operators of food services, to comply with a city ordinance passed in July last year on net-zero emissions management.
The city began in 2020 to charge fees for and recycle disposable tableware at 119 of the city venues run by contractors that provide such services, the department said.
Many public and private operators have joined in the initiative, and by strengthening plastic and waste-reducing policies, the city hopes people would be encouraged to prepare their own cutlery and containers, it said.
The department previously promoted restrictions on the use of melamine resin tableware in 2016.
As of last year, a total of 902 venues, including 38 markets, 13 night markets, 29 universities, 27 central government agencies, 119 outsourced venues, 53 department stores, 16 wholesale markets and 607 firms, have joined in, the department said.
Melamine is not heat-resistant and releases harmful chemicals when heated, the city said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
RSS