In order to reduce the indiscriminate use of plastic shopping bags, the Administration proposes to introduce an environmental levy on plastic shopping bags at retailers in phases. A two-month public consultation was conducted between May and July 2007 to solicit views from the public and the stakeholders.
Under the first phase of the proposed scheme, free distribution of plastic shopping bags at chain or large supermarkets, convenience stores and personal healthy and beauty stores will be prohibited. An environmental levy of 50 cents on each plastic shopping bag will be introduced at these retail outlets.
It is estimated that the proposed 50-cent levy will reduce about 50% of plastic shopping bags distributed at the retailers covered by the scheme. Further details of the proposal are available
here.
The public consultation ended on 31 July 2007, indicating an overwhelming public support. The public consultation report can be downloaded here. In light of the broad-based public consensus, we have introduced the Product Eco-responsibility Bill into the Legislative Council on 9 January 2008 which was passed on 10 July 2008. The Product Eco-responsibility Ordinance has been gazetted on 18 July 2008.
Voluntary Agreement on Plastic Bag Reduction
Eight retail chains, including the three largest supermarkets in Hong Kong, have respectively entered into a "Voluntary Agreement on Plastic Bag Reduction" with the Government. These retail chains are:
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Wellcome
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PARKnSHOP
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China Resources Vanguard
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Watsons
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Mannings
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A-1 Bakery
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Circle K
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City'Super
In addition to setting reduction targets, these retail chains have agreed to implement a series of measures to reduce the distribution of plastic shopping bags, including:
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offering incentives or rebates for consumers who do not need plastic shopping bags;
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putting up signage to encourage consumers to use reusable shopping bags;
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asking each and every consumer if they need plastic shopping bags; and
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providing training to frontline staff to solicit their support for the plastic shopping bag reduction initiatives.
We are promoting the Voluntary Agreement to other retailers. For retailers who want to know more about the Voluntary Agreement, please contact us at 2838 3111 or write to enquiry@epd.gov.hk.
Reference Materials
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