Taiwanese produce on average three kinds of plastic garbage every day, but most are not properly recycled, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwan RE-THINK Environmental Education Association found.
The survey of 1,085 students and online respondents last month showed that up to 96 percent of people dump certain single-use plastics every day, and every person surveyed produced at least three kinds of plastic garbage.
Plastic bags are the most common trash that people produce, followed by plastic-coated food containers, plastic cups, plastic straws and bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), RE-THINK marketing and public relations director Sandra Wang (王滋鮮) told a news conference in Taipei.
People might think that recycling PET bottles is easy, but only 52 percent of respondents knew that it takes nearly 450 years for the environment to decompose the bottles, she said.
Recycling is not a cure-all for garbage disposal, and people should improve their understanding of garbage and its destinations, RE-THINK co-founder Jason Huang (黃之揚) said.
In its recycling index, to be launched next year, the association would list out the components and recycling category of certain products, he said.
The index would be launched online, as well as made into teaching materials for schools, he added.
Last year, RE-THINK created a printed and online guidebook of marine debris, which it used as the basis of an interactive game to raise awareness about plastic pollution.
More than 40,000 people joined beach cleanups and collected hundreds of tonnes of garbage in 2017 and last year, Wang said.
However, the trash produced by each Taiwanese per day amounted to 1.132kg last year, a record high since 2001, she said, citing data from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
The government has continued to enact plastic reduction policies, including the ban on single-use plastic straws for dine-in customers at public and chain restaurants, which took effect in July, and which garners increasing support from the public, EPA Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substance Management Director-General Tsai Ling-yi (蔡玲儀) said at the news conference.
Starting from January, the Taipei City Government is to implement a ban on providing single-use plastic cutlery at shopping malls, which would be followed by more local municipalities, she added.
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau audited six hotels in an effort to prevent price gouging ahead of Korean band BTS’ concert tour in the city scheduled for Nov. 19, 21 and 22 this year. The bureau on Friday said that the audits — conducted in response to allegations of unfair pricing posted on social media — found no wrongdoing. These establishments included the local branches of Chateau de Chine, Hotel Nikko, My Humble House, and Grand Hai Lai, it said, adding that the Consumer Protection Commission would have penalized price gougers had the accusations been substantiated. The bureau said the Tourism Development Act
The military yesterday said it has located the flight data recorder, or black box, of an F-16V jet that disappeared off eastern Taiwan earlier this month, and it would soon deploy a salvage team to try to retrieve it. Air Force Command Headquarters said that while it had pinned down the location of the black box, it was still searching for the aircraft’s sole pilot, air force Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅). Without providing details, the air force said it had located the black box days after detecting some intermittent signals and would now engage a team of professionals to retrieve it. The air
RSS