Taiwan to Ban All Single-Use Plastics by 2030

A new plan announced by Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets a timetable for completely phasing out single-use plastic items such as straws, cups and shopping bags by 2030.

Facing a massive marine waste crisis and with Taiwan's landfills projected to reach capacity in the next six years, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Taiwanese EPA is working with local environmental groups to reduce plastic waste at both ends of the equation — in source and in final resting place.

Officials announced February 22 a new road map to eliminating the four largest sources of plastic waste, Channel News Asia reported. "We aim to implement a blanket ban by 2030 to significantly reduce plastic waste that pollutes the ocean and also gets into the food chain to affect human health," Lai Ying-ying, an EPA official supervising the program, said.

According to Lai, the average Taiwan resident will use 700 plastic bags a year — the EPA aims to reduce that number to only 100 by 2025 and to completely eliminate plastic bag use by 2030.

Free plastic bags are already banned in major outlets like convenience stores and supermarkets in Taiwan, where customers must purchase them for a small fee when buying other products. However, the new plan will eliminate single-use bags altogether, along with other single-use plastic items like straws, cups, disposable food containers and disposable utensils, Taiwan News reported.
 [sputniknews.com]
 22/2/18