The nation’s six special municipalities must each install cigarette waste receptacles in 650 locations by the end of November as part of the government’s plan to eliminate cigarette litter, the Ministry of Environment said yesterday.
Other local governments must install receptacles in 400 locations, while officials in the outlying counties must add them at 300 spots, the ministry said.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭?明) launched a cigarette butt-free initiative soon after taking office on May 20. He also unveiled six strategies to reduce cigarette litter, including changing the culture around smoking, tackling cigarette littering at the source, cracking down on littering, intensifying collaboration between the public and private sectors, and increasing research on the issue.
Photo: Taipei Times file
In a letter to local governments last month, the ministry charged them with implementing action plans to meet the “No Stub on the Ground” campaign and follow guidelines to install cigarette butt collection receptacles.
The guidelines stipulate that the receptacles be placed in popular smoking areas, such as outside convenience stores, restaurants, beverage shops, Internet cafes, hospitals and clinics, housing agencies, public transportation stations, parking lots and fuel stations, as well as around sidewalks, alleys, roads and drainage ditches, Environmental Management Administration official Wei Wen-yi (魏文宜) said.
They must also be far away from residential areas, she added.
Smokers would be fined NT$1,200 to NT$6,000 (US$37.57 to US$187.86) for cigarette littering in accordance with the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), she said.
The action plan stipulates that law enforcement officers can issue fines for cigarette litterers if they see them doing so in front of a convenience store or if they were observed littering on surveillance systems.
“We would also regularly review the effectiveness of the punishment to curb cigarette littering,” Wei said.
Businesses would be encouraged to clean cigarette butts left outside their storefronts in the initial phase and enhance environment inspection in the medium term, she said.
In the long run, the ministry would announce the area that store owners are responsible for cleaning, she said.
The government would allocate about NT$18 million every year to fund the cleaning of ditches, which are often used as ashtrays by smokers, she said.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS