Bring your own bag, Taipei is banning the sale of plastic bags in the below categories:
The newly announced ban on the sale of plastic bags comes in addition to an expanded ban on free plastic bags at 14 types of businesses — government agencies, private schools, department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, pharmacies, medical equipment stores, book and stationery stores, laundries, beverage stores, bakeries and computer, consumer electronics and communications product retailers — that is also set to take effect on Jan. 1.
I’m all for it this. I already don’t ask for a bag when I buy from tea shops and when I buy stuff from the wet market. My stash of plastic bags that will be used as garbage bags can probably last me a solid 2 years or so.
I live in community, so I don’t buy the government issued bags.
With these prices per bag…I’m assuming it’s cheaper to by in bulk from the convenient store?
The bags are to come in three different sizes — a 3 liter bag costing NT$1, a 6 liter bag costing NT$2 and a 14 liter bag costing NT$5 — and city residents are to be allowed to use them to dispose of burnable waste.
Sounds a bit silly IMO.
The plastic garbage generated by all the disposable packages which are impossible to recycle is much more than some plastic shopping bags.
Plus, what would you do if you forgot to bring your own bag? Leave everything in the Carrefour’s counter and come back about day?
People got used to queuing in the MRT. They will get used to the bag thing.
I also think overpacking is a big problem. Next up in the van should be non eusable plastic “glasses” and straws, already being discussed, for starters.
There are new recycling technologies the last couple of years that let them separate all kinds of plastic bags according to type of plastic, recycle and reuse for other purposes. Even Styrofoam and others.
what would you do if you forgot to bring your own bag?
You’d buy 25 NTD big environmental friendly reusable bad. This will punish you enough so you don’t forget your bag next time. Happened in RT-Mart in Hsinchu, these fellas banned bags about 4 months ago already.
Bottle caps ARE recyclable! But they’re made from different type of plastic than the bottle itself, so they can’t be recycled together (different soldering temperatures is one of the reasons). Problem here is that even in the most educated countries having two bins for plastic, one saying PLA and other ABS/PC, would be too confusing for anyone, except chemistry workers and 3D printing enthusiasts.
Because the items you mentioned are not recycled in some countries doesn’t mean you can’t recycle them, there are ways to do it, but people don’t want to because it’s easier to put in a landfill.
Pizza boxes can’t be recycle but they can be burned and used as a source for generating electricity, heat. Basically all paper can burned.
Aerosol cans when empty are recyclable.
Milk and juice cartons can be shredded and soaked and plastic liner, paper and others separated.
More and more recycling technology is popping up, people are inventive in turning waste back into raw materials and reuse it.
You may be correct regarding new recycling technologies. So, shouldn’t we be more concerned about investing in such tech or pushing them to be widely adopted instead of focusing on mere plastics bags?
People and government tend to put these bags as the worst thing for the environment when, in fact, that’s not true.
I’m not saying they are good for the environment, but they are certainly more damaging products and unrecyclable (or hard to recycle) materials that require less effort to act upon and generate much better results.
Or do people take think that forbidding the sales and use of plastic bags will cause a big impact? It seems it’s just a way for the government to say they are doing “something”…
The lady who takes our recylables accepts 1., 3., 7. and 11. If they aren’t recylable, I wonder what she does with them. Maybe she’s building a giant trash sculpture somewhere?
