Taiwan is taking a step towards a greener country by introducing a plan to eliminate plastic by 2030. Taiwan’s been making moves toward an eco-friendlier environment since its’ fee on plastic bags at festivals and public events.  

This plan will have a major effect in restaurants since they will have to find an alternative to plastic straws. By 2025, consumers will have to pay extra for all uses of plastic such as utensils and beverage cups. Using the five-year roadmap from the government’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), Taiwan will have eliminated a majority of plastic. The EPA official Lai Ying-Ying has been supervising this new program and evaluating the effects.  

“We aim to implement a blanket ban by 2030 to significantly reduce plastic waste that pollutes the ocean,” Ying-Ying said. “Pollution also gets into the food production and effects the human health.”  

In Taiwan, an average person uses 700 plastic bags annually. The EPA aims to reduce the number to 100 by 2025 and to zero by the year 2030. The government has already banned grocery and department stores from having free plastic bags. The island started recycling plastic bags and pushing to reduce single-use plastic items more than a decade ago.  

“Free plastic shopping bags, disposable food containers and disposable utensils will also be banned in 2020 from all retail stores that issue uniform invoices – widely used in Taiwan,” Hong Kong Press said.  “Additional fees will also be imposed in 2025.” 

All these steps will lead to residents finding creative ways to find replacements for these basic plastic utensils that are used daily. Lee Ying-Yuan, Taiwan’s environment minister, has been wanting cleaner beaches and an overall better environment for Taiwan’s’ citizens.  

“You can use steel products or edible straws – or maybe you just don’t need to use straws at all,” Ying-Yuan said. “There is no inconvenience caused at all.” 

However, Taiwan is not the only country that is taking steps to better their environment. In 2016, France banned single-use dishes and cutlery in 2016 and hinting at the banning of straws.