People who use their own bags from Thursday next week at Jianguo Holiday Flower Market (建國花市) in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) can earn points on EasyCard Corp’s Easy Wallet app, the Ministry of Environment said yesterday at an event to launch its new plastic reduction measures for the market.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming said that most people use plastic bags for plants they buy at the market, but plastic prices have risen by more than 30 percent this year.
The ministry a day earlier unveiled an online platform to promote reuse of shopping bags.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Plastic is the primary form of waste in Taiwan, Peng said, adding that everyone is responsible to help reduce plastic waste.
The ministry launched the shopping bag circulation platform to help collect and distribute bags, he said, adding that the platform is expected to collect hundreds of thousands of bags.
The market would be a starting point to circulate the bags, with the expectation that it would promote such sustainable action nationwide, he said.
Jianguo Flower Market Vendor Council director Chang Hsueh-tan (張學潭) said the market has been promoting shopping bag reuse in cooperation with the ministry since August last year.
People who shop at the market are willing to echo sustainability initiatives when there are established mechanisms that are accessible and reliable, Chang said.
The ministry’s plastic reduction plan is not a mandatory policy, but a simple practice that people can apply in everyday life, he said.
Reusable bags are offered at the market for people to use for free and many vendors have changed their practices in line with the plastic reduction policy, he said.
The proportion of people who refrain from using new plastic bags at the market has increased from 1.5 percent to 10 percent since August last year, ministry data showed.
At least 15,000 people brought their own shopping bags to the market over the period, 5,000 reusable bags at the market were taken, while the market collected more than 10,000 bags, the data showed.
From Thursday, people who make purchases at the market can earn points on the Easy Wallet app if they use their own bag, the ministry said, adding that a second-hand flowerpot recycling mechanism would be launched at the market in May.
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