TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Taipei City's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) implemented a prohibition on single-use plastic cups on Monday (May 1).

The municipal government pledged to send personnel to conduct inspections of beverage shops to ensure compliance. Violators can be fined up to NT$6,000 (US$180) with businesses subject to successive fines, per UDN.

New Taipei City’s EPA said it had been planning the implementation of the plastic cup band since last year, carrying out communication with local businesses in the beverage industry, allowing for the depletion of plastic cup inventory before implementing a wide-ranging ban.

New Taipei ‘s EPA said a wide ranging publicity campaign had been undertaken at the start of this year, with continual communication with beverage store franchises. Some 2,704 beverage stores are thought to be in New Taipei City and it’s estimated that the yearly reduction in plastic cups will be around 368 million plastic cups.

The manager of a beverage shop in Banqiao, surnamed Li (李), told Taiwan’s Central News Agency that in order to protect the environment, his business is willing to cooperate with the policy.

For the moment, he pledged to keep serving drinks in paper cups even though it is significantly more expensive than the cost of plastic cups.. Paper cups can be used for both hot and cold drinks and are suitable for take-out service.

The EPA said inspections will begin tomorrow with violators subject to fines between NT$1,200 - NT$6,000 (US$36-US$180), according to the Waste Disposal Law.