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More New Taxes on Plastic Bags
Arthur Stamoulis
The Taiwanese government has placed a new tax on plastic bags and
plastic silverware, in a move they hope will reduce the nation's garbage
flow by as much as 30 percent. The policy requires grocery stores,
restaurants and retail outlets to charge customers a fee for thin
plastic bags and other disposable items.
The
new regulations, which went into effect on January 1, have been met
with protest from the plastics industry, which claims the environmental
policy will cost the nation jobs. Protesters have called for the country's
Environmental Protection Administration head to resign.
Government officials respond that the average Taiwanese uses 900 plastic
bags a year, and that they will not step down from the new regulation.
A similar tax placed on plastic bags in Ireland
led to a 90-percent drop in the number of bags being used, and has
also helped to raise millions of dollars for environmental programs.
Plastic bags have been out-and-out banned in South Africa, after being
littered so frequently they became known as the country's "national
flower."
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