The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) deserves to be applauded for its recent initiative to encourage consumers to bring their own cups instead of using disposable plastic or paper cups at fast food outlets, convenience stores and beverage shops.
The EPA’s “own-cup policy” encourages shops to offer discounts to customers who bring their own cups and one month after the policy was initiated on May 1, officials said about 4.4 percent of customers were using their own cups.
Department of Waste Management Deputy Director Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said that people in Taiwan use an average of 1.5 billion disposable cups every year. In other words, a decrease of 4.4 percent is the equivalent of 66 million fewer cups a year being thrown into the garbage.
Not a bad start, but that’s all it is: a start.
Sixty-six million seems like a big number, but it’s a small dent out of 1.5 billion.
Moreover, there is no way of knowing how long this policy will continue or whether it will be expanded. The EPA does not have the best track record when it comes to getting people to stop using disposable products.
Nearly 10 years ago, the agency initiated a campaign to decrease the use of plastic shopping bags by getting stores to charge for them. Unfortunately, the results fell far short of expectations. At NT$1 or NT$2 per bag at chain stores such as 7-Eleven or Wellcome, few people appeared too concerned about paying out the additional cash. In addition, the newer bags were made with much more plastic than the older bags and nobody enforced the rules on smaller stores, street stands, fruit stalls and just about everywhere else where carrier bags are often freely handed out. Billions of plastic bags are still given out every year.
However, the EPA needed to start somewhere. If it is now going to get serious about teaching people in Taiwan ethical habits regarding the use of disposable goods, it should not stop at encouraging small discounts at stores that are willing to participate. After the policy has been implemented for a while and customers are accustomed to the discounts, the EPA could widen the policy to include stores that were not part of the original plan, even making participation mandatory.
A logical next step would be to encourage stores to increase the discount, to make bringing one’s own cup more attractive.
The ultimate goal has to be to encourage as many people as possible to bring their own cups and any policy that works toward that goal should be encouraged and applauded. However, the government must not be allowed to ease up on implementing the policy, as was the case with the plan to phase out the use of plastic bags, which simply never came to fruition.
People all over the world use far too many plastic cups, utensils, food containers, bags and bottles. Although a good portion of them are recycled or incinerated, a huge amount of plastic winds up in the oceans, where it breaks down into a toxic soup of plastic particles that is in some places double the size of the US state of Texas.
Ultimately, asking individuals to voluntarily cut back on using disposable goods is not enough. The EPA and other government agencies must step up efforts to encourage people in Taiwan to adopt ethical habits when it comes to the environment.
US president-elect Donald Trump is inheriting from President Joe Biden a challenging situation for American policy in the Indo-Pacific region, with an expansionist China on the march and threatening to incorporate Taiwan, by force if necessary. US policy choices have become increasingly difficult, in part because Biden’s policy of engagement with China, including investing in personal diplomacy with President Xi Jinping (習近平), has not only yielded little but also allowed the Chinese military to gain a stronger footing in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. In Xi’s Nov. 16 Lima meeting with a diminished Biden, the Chinese strongman signaled little
On Tuesday, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued a statement criticizing Song Siyao (宋思瑤), a student from Shanghai’s Fudan University, saying she had offended the sensibilities of Taiwanese. It also called for the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation — established by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — which had organized the tour group, to remind group members to be careful with their statements. Song, during a visit to a baseball stadium in Taichung, said that the tour group “would like to congratulate China, Taipei team (中國台北隊) ... we wish mainland China and Taiwan compatriots can be like the team Chinatrust Brothers and
“Integrated Diplomacy” (總和外交) is the guiding principle of Taiwan’s current foreign policy. It seeks to mobilize technology, capital and talent for global outreach, strengthening Taiwan’s international connections. However, without a robust information security mechanism, such efforts risk being reduced to superficial courtesy calls. Security clearance serves as the “entrance examination results” for government agency personnel in sensitive positions, qualifying them to access sensitive information. Senior aides in the US Congress must also possess security clearance to assist lawmakers in handling classified budgets. However, security clearance is not an automatic right or a blanket necessity for accessing sensitive information. Access is granted only
The licensing of medical professionals with overseas degrees has again aroused heated debate, and many dentists held a protest in Taipei on Nov. 24. The controversy stemmed from an amendment to the Physicians’ Act (醫師法) in 2001 allowing people who studied overseas to be qualified to take the first stage of the two-stage national medical licensing exam. As more countries joined the EU after the passing of the amendment, overseas study agencies have advertised English-language medical programs in Europe, targeting people who could not qualify for local medical schools. Examination Yuan data showed that, from the late 2000s, the number
RSS