The Tainan City Government declared that beginning on October 1st, beverage retailers, vendors, etc. would no longer be permitted to use disposable plastic cups in order to comply with the plastic restriction policy and lessen the use of plastic. There will be a yearly reduction of 160 million plastic cups, according to estimates.
Tainan City will outlaw single-use plastic cups as of October 1.Photo provided by Tainan City Government
There are now roughly 7,000 beverage businesses registered for operation, according to the Environmental Protection Bureau of the Tainan City Government. The city government has dispatched staff to inform local businesses to take inventory as soon as possible, inquire about suppliers' readiness to recycle, or get in touch with recycling businesses to sell them and deliver them to the Environmental Protection Bureau for resource recycling. Stores can move to using paper or plant fibers like rice husk and sugar cane as the primary material for drinking cups when the ordinance banning plastic cups goes into effect, and they can also establish recycling cup rental services. To really limit the use of throwaway drinking cups, the city government expects that the public would bring their own eco-friendly cups.
After the regulation goes into effect on October 1, the city's Environmental Protection Bureau informs residents that offenders will be penalized in line with the Waste Disposal Act with a maximum fine of NT$6,000 and a minimum fine of NT$1,200.