Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je has since August prohibited the use of disposable cutlery and food containers in all government departments and schools in Taipei. However, Taipei City Councilor Lin Shih-tsung pointed out during a question-and-answer session at the city council on Tuesday last week that after the bans took effect, seven public high school canteens stopped selling lunch boxes and hot food, nine schools using stainless steel cutlery were required to pay deposits of between NT$50 and NT$150 or to use student’s ID cards, and another three schools are being charged an extra NT$5 for a cleaning fee for the stainless steel cutlery.
Lin said that some schools, reluctant to pay the cleaning fee or deposits, are simply handing out the food from the lunchboxes in plastic bags to students. He blasted the city government for rushing through the disposable cutlery ban and introducing it into schools without the proper arrangements being in place.
Ko reprimanded the schools for being disingenuous over compliance with the new rules, and asked the Department of Education to devise a solution before the end of the semester.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者陳志曲
The department has said that it will soon be sending out formal notifications to schools forbidding the use of plastic bags as containers of hot foods, including rice, noodles and hot soup, but that it can only keep an eye on the situation, as there are no penalties in place for schools wanting to use plastic bags.
(Liberty Times, translated by Tu Yu-an and Paul Cooper)
台北市長柯文哲力八月起全面禁止北市公家機關、學校禁用一次性免洗餐具，但台北市議員林世宗上週二於議會質詢時指出，政策推出後，有七家公立高中福利社不賣便當、熱食，九家學校用不鏽鋼餐具要付押金五十至一百五十元或押學生證，三家使用不鏽鋼餐具要多付五元的清潔費。
Photo courtesy of Taipei City Councilor Lin Shih-tsung
照片：台北市議員林世宗提供
林世宗說，有學校因不想付清潔費也不付押金，竟然乾脆把便當飯菜裝入塑膠袋給學生吃。他痛批市府急著推動免洗餐具禁入校園，卻配套不足。
柯文哲得之後斥責學校「陽奉陰違」，並要求教育局在這學期結束前提出檢討方案。
教育局表示，近期將行文各級學校禁止使用塑膠袋盛裝熱食，包含飯麵、熱湯等，但學校使用塑膠袋並無罰則，只能加強督導。(自由時報記者蔡亞樺、何世昌)
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