TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei will enforce a clampdown on the use of PLA containers and tableware from Tuesday (Aug. 1) in a bid to cut plastic waste.

A kind of polyester, polylactic acid or polylactide (PLA) is made from renewable biomass such as corn and sugarcane pulp, labeled as Code 7 compostable. The bioplastic, though, resembles PET plastics in appearance and is not easily biodegradable in soil or ocean but requires specialized processing equipment for treatment.

This presents a headache for the authorities in Taiwan, which currently lacks the capacity to recycle such waste, per the Environmental Information Center. That is why the central government in February classed PLA containers and tableware as plastics and imposed a ban on the use of the items at eight types of venues starting in August.

The venues include public institutions, schools, department stores, shopping malls, wholesalers, supermarkets, convenience store chains, fast food chains, and brick-and-mortar dining businesses.

As such, stepped-up inspections will begin next month across the capital’s 11,144 business entities, according to Taipei’s Department of Environmental Protection. Those who break the law will be fined somewhere between NT$1,200 (US$38) and NT$6,000, pursuant to the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法).

The ban may be extended to cover packaging materials and other applications in a broader campaign to fight plastic pollution, said the Environmental Protection Administration.