The China Post
Date: September 9, 2016
By: John Liu
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Plastic bottles in Taiwan produced up to 30,000 tonnes of waste this summer, the
A model pours Brita-filtered water into a glass in Taipei on Wednesday. Brita’s product is able to filter out heavy metals found in the water, substances that cannot be removed by boiling the water. (Courtesy of Brita)
equivalent to 200 million iPhone 6s, a study produced by water filtration company Brita found.
More than 40 percent of the population aged 15 to 35 bought bottled drinks on a daily basis over the summer, totaling NT$9,180 per person, enough to for a round-trip flight between Taipei and Tokyo.
General practitioner Lin Chun-ku (林青穀), who led the study, said the nation also had a number of misconceptions about the use of plastic bottles, the most common being that plastic bottles could be reused.
Lin said reuse was not recommended. Because most plastic bottles are designed for one-time use, germs from saliva tend to multiply within a few days.
Another misconception was that placing bottles in a high-temperature environment, such as inside a heated car under the sun, was a safe practice. [FULL STORY]
