In the same week I also attended a conference by the Environmental Protection Bureau Tainan about the problem of Styrofoam cups and possible alternatives. Besides the Government officials there were also a lot of the Tea-Shop owners and NGO representatives attendant. 7

This was a very interesting topic for me, because it is a problem that is very special for Taiwan. With so many Tea-Shop’s and all of them using Styrofoam it is a problem, which is hard to find somewhere else.

link to https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mrD ... 2fE/s476/1289901610_0.jpg

The discussion about what should be done was a interesting point. It was about the following points which should also be interesting for everyone of us:

1. Making more people know about the situation

2. Discount to those customers who bring their own cups

3. Other substitute materials for cups

4. For better recycling, using single one type of material to produce cups

5. Using reusable cups

6. Making specific timetable to solve the problems