While the amount of plastic bags found in local waters has significantly decreased, plastic straws are becoming a greater contributor to marine debris, the Taipei-based Society of Wilderness environmental group said on Monday.
Since 2004, the group has participated in the International Coastal Cleanup, with cleanups taking place nationwide in September each year, society executive director Liu Yueh-mei (劉月梅) said.
This year, plastic bottles (46,976), bottle caps (43,733) and plastic straws (36,660) were the most common types of marine debris volunteers found, she said.
Photo: Hsiao Yu-hsin, Taipei Times
They also collected 16,364 plastic bags, which made up 5.7 percent of all items collected, Liu said, adding that this percentage has drastically fallen over the past decade.
In 2008, plastic bags made up 27.5 percent of marine debris collected at the nationwide cleanups, she said.
This year saw the least amount of plastic bags in the event’s 14-year history, group member Hu Chieh-shen (胡介申) said.
Hu said that he believes the trend could be attributed to the introduction of a government policy in 2002 requiring supermarkets, convenience stores and other major establishments to charge customers for plastic bags.
The trend became even more obvious after the government expanded the policy to include seven additional retail categories this year, he added.
Meanwhile, plastic straws are making up a greater proportion of marine debris each year, Hu said, adding that this year there were 12.8 plastic straws for every 100 items.
Liu said she believes that if the number of plastic straws circulating in the nation was similarly reduced at source, they would show up in smaller numbers in the ocean.
The society’s findings serve as a huge encouragement for the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), Department of Waste Management Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said.
They also show the public that government restrictions aimed at reducing the amount of plastic are effective at limiting the use of plastics, she said.
After it established a platform to manage marine debris with local environmental groups last year, the agency has made the reduction of marine debris most commonly found at beach cleanups a long-term goal, she added.
The agency’s bans on single-use tableware, plastic straws and other items would be carried out in three phases, Lai said.
Before 2020, there would be a “restriction” on the use of such items, while an “expanded restriction” would be implemented after 2020, she said, but did not provide a clear timetable for when the complete bans would be issued.
The society said that it has used more than 10,000 plastic straws collected in the beach cleanups to build a Christmas tree it is calling yedanshu (噎誕樹) — replacing the Chinese character ye (耶) in Christmas tree (yedanshu, 耶誕樹) with ye (噎, choke).
An excessive amount of marine debris “chokes” the ocean, it said, adding that it hopes to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the environment as people celebrate Christmas.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS