A new policy to ban the use of disposable utensils and food containers seems to be bearing fruit because most government-operated restaurants have complied with it during the first week, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials said yesterday.
The new policy was initiated on Oct. 1 and affects 7,739 government-operated grocery stores and restaurants in government buildings, the military and public and private schools.
The move is part of a long-term program to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced in Taiwan. On July 1, the 7,739 retailers were banned by the EPA from offering free plastic shopping bags to customers.
During the first week after the new policy was initiated, officials from local bureaus inspected 2,317 restaurants. The officials say that 17 of these stores violated the rule, accounting for only 0.7 percent of all the stores they inspected.
The offending stores are located in Taipei City, Taipei County, Taichung City, Miaoli County, Chiayi County, and Tainan County. They all received warnings from the EPA.
"Some retailers still give customers plastic boxes for cold noodles, sushi and drinks," said Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), director-general of the EPA's Bureau of Solid Waste Management, at a press conference yesterday.
Out of the 2,317 restaurants that were inspected, 1,806 reported which types of utensils they are now using.
"After the implementation of the new policy, 67.9 percent of the 1,806 restaurants use reusable utensils, while the rest use disposable ones made of materials other than plastic," Chen said.
To further analyze changes in retailers' behavior after the policy was initiated, the EPA interviewed staff at 142 restaurants over the phone during the first week.
According to a survey, 32 percent of the interviewees replaced their plastic disposable utensils with reusable ones, while 6 percent used paper utensils as replacements.
Only 11 percent of interviewees used paper utensils before the implementation of the new policy, while 51 percent used reusable ones.
"To sum up, about 83 percent of our interviewees use reusable utensils, which is quite conducive to decreasing plastic waste," Chen said.
Chen stressed that retailers who do not comply will be fined between NT$60,000 and a maximum of NT$300,000, according to the Waste Disposal Act.
Yesterday, the Taipei City Government inspected 32 restaurants affected by the new policy but fined no one. Officials of the city's Bureau of Environmental Protection yesterday suggested that customers bring their own utensils, if possible, to reduce the use of disposable ones.
According to the EPA, the ban on providing free plastic shopping bags and plastic disposable utensils and food containers will be widened next year to include most stores, including department stores, chain convenience stores, wholesalers, supermarkets, chain fast food stores and restaurants with seats.
The EPA predicts that the widened policy will affect more than 70,000 stores in Taiwan.
The city's environmental officials said yesterday that about 17,000 stores in Taipei City would be affected beginning next year.
The city has launched a project to inform the additional stores about the plan and how it will affect them.
Environmentalists said that the new policy should also include street vendors and retailers at traditional markets.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS