Taiwan entered a new era in its environmental history yesterday as the first stage of a policy limiting the use of plastic shopping bags and disposable dining utensils went into effect.
Yesterday morning, environmental officials in 25 counties and cities inspected 217 of the first wave of stores affected by the policy and found that all but one retailer were in compliance.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"I'm satisfied with the performance of people on the starting day of the new policy," Environmental Protection Administration Chief Hau Lung-bin (
The sole violator was in Penghu County, said Chen Hsiung-wen (
But after being exhorted by the inspectors, Chen said that the retailer immediately stopped offering free plastic shopping bags.
EPA officials see this week as a trial-run for the policy and plan to only issue warnings to those who violate the new rules.
But beginning July 8, retailers not in compliance will be fined between NT$60,000 to NT$300,000, according to Article 51 the Waste Disposal Act.
The first stage of the new policy requires that government-operated grocery stores, restaurants in government buildings, public and private schools and the military stop providing free plastic bags.
Free disposable utensils were also to be banned at those same places from today, but the implementation of that part of the policy has been postponed to Oct. 1 because of the drought.
Yesterday morning, Hau inspected several government-operated grocery stores in Taipei City, found that most retailers were selling plastic bags to shoppers for NT$1 or NT$2.
According to an April EPA poll, 16.72 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay NT$1 for shopping bags while 12.72 percent said NT$4 would be acceptable.
In addition, plastic bags that are less than 0.6mm thick are no longer available at the first-stage stores. Officials want to reduce the amount of thin plastic bags used because they are generally the most-frequently discarded by consumers.
"The EPA's introduction of regulations on the thickness of plastic bags is meant to encourage people to reuse the thick plastic ones as much as possible," Hau said.
The new policy also encourages people to purchase cloth shopping bags.
Hau stressed yesterday that environmental protection should not be a just a vague concept, but a part of everyday life.
Hau used Kaohsiung City as an example, saying that the new policy had been embraced by city residents since Jan. 1, when the city took the lead in implementing the new rules.
The city implemented the first stage of the policy on Jan. 1 and the second stage on April 4.
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