Taiwan’s Coffee Craze Highlights Recycling Challenge

Taiwanese drink an estimated 2.3 billion cups of coffee each year, and yet only one company is in charge of recycling them.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/09
By: Olivia Yang

According to statistics from the 2015 HOFEX, coffee consumption in Taiwan has jumped 400% in just four years, reaching an annual average of 100 cups per person. With a population of 23.51 million people, this means an estimated 2.3 billion cups of coffee each year, and hundreds of millions of them are in recyclable cups.

But Lin Shou-chien (林守謙) of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) tells The News Lens International that only one company in Taiwan, Lientai (連泰紙業股份有限公司), is charged with recycling tableware laminated with Polyethylene (PE) foil, the category of recyclable waste that includes coffee cups, which are not paper waste.

An employee at Lientai surnamed Chen tells TNLI that companies need to apply for a license to do this kind of recycling, which is more time consuming than recycling paper.     [FULL  STORY]