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Taiwan to phase out disposable plastic items completely by 2030

WION Web Team
Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Feb 22, 2018, 05:29 PM IST
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The country's eco-drive has also had a crackdown on the use of incense at temples and during festivals. Photograph:(Others)

Taiwan plans to ban single-use of plastic items. The blanket ban will encompass commodities like plastic straws, cups and shopping bags. The country plans to phase out single-use of plastic completely by the year 2030 in a bid to cut pollution. Taiwan already has a recycling programme in plastic and charges citizens for plastic bags.

The country's eco-drive has also had a crackdown on the use of incense at temples and during festivals.

The plastic ban will require major restaurants to stop providing plastic straws for in-store use from 2019. All dining outlets will be required to abide by the directive from 2020.

Consumers will have to shell out extra money to be able to use plastic articles like straws, shopping bags, disposable utensils and beverage cups from 2025.

"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," said Lai Ying-ying, an EPA official supervising the new programme.

According to EPA data, a Taiwanese person uses nearly 700 plastic bags annually. The EPA aims to reduce the number to 100 by 2025 and to zero by 2030.

(With inputs from AFP)