The Ministry of Environment said that it is planning to charge for plastic bags at 40 night markets and traditional markets starting in July, and Taipei’s Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市) might be designated as the first market for the trial
Taiwan is known for its night markets, which are filled with various street foods. However, a considerable amount of single-use plastic bags are also given out in the markets.
The government in 2002 began introducing measures to reduce the use of plastic bags. It expanded the free plastic bag ban to 14 types of businesses, including government agencies, convenience stores, pharmacies, beverage stores and bakeries in 2018.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
The annual usage of plastic bags has been reduced by about 50 percent in two decades, from about 20 billion bags to about 10 billion bags per year, the ministry’s data showed.
The ministry is planning to designate at least one market in each city or county as a “no free plastic bag” market, with a total of 40 designated markets across the nation, said Lee Yi-hua (李宜樺), an official from the Ministry of Environment’s Resource Circulation Administration.
Vendors in designated markets would not be allowed to offer free plastic bags, but the ban does not apply to plastic bags containing food, Lee said.
The trial is expected to start in July and to run through the end of the year, with respective local environmental protection departments choosing the markets for the demonstration, he added.
“The trial market in Taipei is likely to be Ningxia Night Market,” Lee said.
Ningxia Night Market has been working toward becoming eco-friendly by replacing disposable tableware with reusable ones, so its vendors and customers should be more accepting of the plastic bag ban, Lee added.
However, vendors at Ningxia Night Market have polarized reactions to the possible policy.
Some vendors said that they sometimes have customers who bring their own reusable food containers when buying food, as well as foreign customers who ask if they need to pay for plastic bags, showing a high acceptance of plastic reduction measures.
Meanwhile, others said that the policy would only cause extra trouble for vendors and customers.
It would be difficult to ban free plastic bags at traditional markets, as meat and seafood products cannot be put into a big reusable bag like fruits and vegetables, and some products need to be separated by plastic bags to keep them fresh, a traditional market vendor said when asked to comment on the policy.
Another vendor said they would feel embarrassed to ask customers to pay NT$1 or NT$2 for a plastic bag.
As for customers, a woman surnamed Chang (張) said that she believes the policy would encourage more people to bring reusable shopping bags.
Meanwhile, a customer surnamed Chen (陳) said they wonder whether the policy would be effective in reducing plastic waste.
If consumers do not change their habits, the amount of plastic waste would not decrease, the only change would be that people would need to pay for plastic bags, Chen said.
The US plans to deploy thousands of drones in the Taiwan Strait in an operation called “Hellscape” to ensure that any attempt by China to invade Taiwan does not succeed, US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo told the Washington Post. In an article published on Monday, columnist Josh Rogin quoted Paparo as saying from the sidelines of the recent Shangri-La Dialogue defense forum in Singapore that the “Hellscape” strategy would involve deploying thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation, Washington and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was devised to deter
INSECURITY: The Financial Times yesterday reported that in a EU-China meeting Xi said he would not ‘take the bait’ from the US Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the US is luring China into a military conflict over Taiwan, the Financial Times cited a source as saying. Xi told Von der Leyen that the US was “trying to provoke Beijing by providing weapons to Taiwan,” but he would “not take the bait,” the Financial Times reported yesterday, The remarks were made during a meeting between Xi and Von der Leyen in April last year, it said. The report also quoted Center for Strategic and International Studies Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette as
CHINESE THREAT: Twenty-two military aircraft and vessels were detected around Taiwan over 24 hours, including a drone that flew as close as 80km to Oluanpi China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) yesterday said that the Chinese man who drove a motorboat into a strategic river mouth in Taiwan on Sunday was acting on his own and would be punished upon his return to China. However, the National Security Bureau said it would not exclude any possibilities regarding the man’s motivations, including the Chinese government’s involvement. The man has been identified as a 60-year-old former Chinese navy captain surnamed Ruan (阮). Coast guard personnel on Sunday arrested Ruan in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) after his boat entered Tamsui River (淡水河). The boat was detected off the coast of
SHIN KONG SHENANIGANS: Eugene Wu is the father of Cynthia Wu, who was the TPP’s vice presidential candidate alongside Chairman Ko-Wen-je in January’s election Former Shin Kong Life Insurance Co chairman Eugene Wu (吳東進) and several other company executives are being investigated for alleged embezzlement and fraud resulting in corporate financial losses of about NT$150 million (US$4.63 million), New Taipei City prosecutors said yesterday. After being summoned to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning, Wu was listed as among 17 suspects facing charges of aggravated breach of trust, embezzlement and breaches of the Insurance Act (保險法). Wu was released on bail of NT$100 million yesterday. The case has received much attention with Eugene Wu being the eldest son of Wu Ho-su (吳火獅), who founded Shin