Last Thursday, the Executive Yuan gave a green light to expanding the ban on free plastic bags, as of next year. To further reduce the use of plastic bags, starting Jan. 1, the ban will prevent another 80,000 more stores from offering free plastic shopping bags to customers. This increases the categories of stores involved from seven to 14, the new categories being pharmacies, medical appliances stores, 3C retailers, book/stationery stores, laundries, beverage stores, and bakeries. The aim is to further reduce plastic bag use by 1.5 billion per year.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) implemented the policy of reducing plastic bag use in 2002 and, since then, certain establishments such as government agencies, private schools, department stores, shopping malls, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores and fast-food restaurant chains have been prohibited from providing customers with free plastic shopping bags.
Also, with effect from Jan. 1, the EPA will ban the manufacture and importation of personal hygiene products containing microbeads, such as cleansing lotions and shower gels, to reduce the amount of harm to the oceans caused by these plastic particles. Their sale will be prohibited in Taiwan from July 1 that year.
Photo: Lu Chun-wei, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者鹿俊為
(Liberty Times, translated by Lin Lee-kai)
行政院上週四拍板,擴大管制購物用塑膠袋之使用,明年元旦起擴大管制範圍,管制對象由現行七大類增加為十四類,新增七大類、八萬家商店,包括藥粧/美粧/藥局、醫療器材行、3C零售、書籍/文具零售、洗衣店、飲料店、西點麵包店。目標是每年再減少十五億個購物用塑膠袋。
環保署九十一年起推動購物用塑膠袋減量工作,已規定公部門、私立學校、百貨公司、量販店、超級市場、便利商店 、連鎖速食店不得免費提供購物用塑膠袋。
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者張嘉明
環保署也將管制洗面乳、沐浴乳等個人清潔用品中添加塑膠微粒,以減少塑膠微粒對於海洋的危害,明年一月一日起不得製造、輸入,七月一日起不得販賣。
(自由時報記者李欣芳、劉力仁)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of