I can’t wait to see how this plays out.
They’re targeting beverage shops specifically but what about every other restaurant or store or place that uses plastic cups.
Taipei says so they going to do it in 4 months without giving any options when they have two years to work on it.
Supposed to be final Taiwan-wide by the end of 2024.
Straws are banned also but that didn’t last.
Unless I’m missing something this will negatively affect the bottom line of most beverage shops.
So what are people going to use instead? It isn’t like taking your coffee cup. A lot of drink purchases are spur of the moment. Paper cups which have a plastic film over them?
The shops are going to lose a lot of business.
Stupid. I’ve been bringing my own stainless cup to get drinks for at least a few years now. They always give me a straw because drinking out of a stainless straw is a legitimate danger to ones safety (chipped teeth, impalement) (I could switch to silicone I guess, but how much waste goes into making the reusable straws and cups vs. the disposable ones?)
Common sense and actual research shows that charging for a cup/bag makes consumers change their habits more quickly. A few universities tried this — they lowered the cost of the drinks in the cafe by 30 cents (US$) and then charged 30 cents for the disposable cup if you didn’t bring one. Keep in mind an expensive disposable cup is only like 5 cents, so this wasn’t profit-seeking / financially beneficial to the cafe.
I paid off the cost of my $30 thermos in college on discounted drinks pretty quickly (plus places like Panera used to give you free drinks if you brought your own cup and purchased a meal, my university gave a discount somewhere around 25-35 cents for BYOC). I used to come in with thrift store coffee mugs we kept in the dorm (25 cents) if I hadn’t cleaned my thermos in a while. When there’s a financial incentive, people change their behavior.
Meanwhile in Taiwan, most places give you NT$2 off if you bring your own mug. That’s not an incentive. I pay more than that for soap and water to clean it out!
Taipei just wants to screw the small business owner so they have to move to San Chong or Yonghe or Linkou or somewhere cheaper with more people who can’t live in Taipei due to gentrification.
I’m so tired of useful shops being replaced by useless shops.
Maybe taiwan can think of new business 
These beverages are going to cost the NHI a lot of money in the long run with diabetes and health problems from being overweight
The majority of small businesses that are beverage focused are coffee shops who tend to use wax lined paper cups anyways.
…also I wouldn’t mind less small businesses. Too many here.
Having lived in Taiwan on and off for the past 8 years, I don’t see how well this will work. My drink purchases were usually spur of the moment, and if they end up using paper cups, we’ll just see a increase in non-recyclable garbage.
I admire the intent, but this good intention is going to lead to a lot of negative consequences without a tangible and tested plan from those making this policy.
However, what they should do is ban all bottled water and put a tap outside every convenience store. Why people pay for bottled tap water is beyond me…
Small businesses provide more better-paying jobs. They’re good for the economy. High amounts of big business paying minimum wage makes us poorer.
High competition makes better products, lower prices and increased velocity of money.
There’s an app for that
Meanwhile, you can’t recycle receipts which are given during almost every transaction… But sure plastic recyclable cups are the problem.
I can think of a lot more issues that aren’t plastic cups.
How can they even enforce this ban? They can’t even enforce fire or food safety
Or more than a single soap dispenser in bathrooms that are at a publicly funded area
Half the time, there’s no soap
It depends a great deal on how they do it. Almost guaranteed they’ll make a right pig’s ear of the legislation. I doubt they’ll apply the same rules to drinks bought in 7-11, so the net effect will just be to shift profits away from small businesses and into the pockets of conglomerates.
One possibility would be to sell strong, reusable cups with cute pictures on them. You could make them collectible so they’re desirable items in their own right. Add a large deposit sufficient to cover the cost of the cup with a 90% refund on return (to cover the cleaning cost). That way people don’t literally have to walk around carrying a cup just in case they want to buy a drink.
OTOH I don’t have an awful lot of sympathy for drinks shops if they lose business. They’re basically selling addictive drugs that are causing a lot of damage. If people stop buying sweetened tea by the half-litre, it’ll do a lot of the nation’s health.
It must be 5 NTD discount!
Every drink shop and even McDonalds gave me 5 NTD discount when I brought my own cup.
Meanwhile every fruit in grocery stores is double-encased in plastic
Woohoo! /s
I guess the ban on plastic straws was such a huge success that they are moving to cups now…