Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-10-01

Environmental Protection Administration Minister Lee Ying-yuan says he hopes that one day Taiwan can become an “island without plastic.” His comments came on Sunday during an event the EPA held to promote upcoming changes to Taiwan’s regulation of plastic bags.

The new rules which go in place in January will expand a ban on free plastic bags at seven more categories of stores. Those include pharmacies, medical equipment shops, electronics stores, bookstores, dry cleaners, drink shops, and bakeries. Some 80,000 stores will be affected by the new rules. Lee said that the move is expected to decrease the number of plastic bags used in Taiwan next year by 1.5 billion.

However, Lee said that’s only the tip of the iceberg. That figure represents only one tenth of the annual consumption of plastic bags in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]