Beverage vendors in Tainan would be required to stop providing single-use plastic cups from Oct. 1, the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau announced yesterday.
The bureau had informed about 7,000 beverage shops about the new policy, and dispatched staff to 48 night markets and 115 public or private markets to raise awareness about the new rules, it said in a statement.
The city expects about 160 million fewer disposable plastic cups to be used per year thanks to the ban, which Tainan is joining other Taiwanese cities in implementing to protect the environment, the bureau said.
Photo: CNA
In December last year, Taipei became the first municipality in Taiwan to prohibit the use of disposable plastic cups at beverage shops. A similar ban took effect in New Taipei City on May 1, and the cups are also to be banned in Taichung from Oct. 1.
Some shops in Taipei and New Taipei City have opted to use paper cups instead of plastic cups.
Beverage vendors in Tainan could use paper cups or cups made of plant fibers such as sugar cane, straw and unhusked rice, or encourage their customers to use reusable cups, the bureau said.
It also called on people to bring their own cups when they buy a drink.
Many stores in Taiwan had replaced disposable plastic cups with paper cups before the ban was announced, the bureau added.
Any seller that contravenes the policy would be fined NT$1,200 to NT$6,000 under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物處理法), the bureau said.
The Ministry of Environment, which was upgraded from the Environmental Protection Administration on Tuesday last week, aims to ban the use of plastic cups nationwide by next year.
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