Plastic bag levy "has failed" say producers as plastic use rises

Jul 18, 2011, 6:13 GMT

Hong Kong - A levy of 50 Hong Kong cents (6.41 cents) on disposable shopping bags has actually increased the overall use of plastic, a newspaper report said Monday.

The levy, introduced two years ago on flimsy plastic bags given away by supermarkets, has failed to protect the environment, the South China Morning Post said.

Instead, even though the use of the conventional bags has dropped by 70 per cent, shoppers have turned to thicker, reusable carrier bags and rubbish bags.

A study by the Hong Kong Plastic Bags Manufacturers' Association showed the use of reusable non-woven and other plastic bags had increased overall plastic use by almost 30 per cent.

Eric Lau Chi-leung, the association's vice-president, said, 'These so-called environment-friendly, reusable bags are made of plastic. But the government has not done enough to inform the public about this.'

He added, 'That's why although we now have had the plastic-bag levy in place for two years, the amount of plastic we have used in bags has in fact increased by 27 per cent.'

Lau pointed out that reusable bags contain about 30 to 50 times more plastic than conventional ones and take longer to biodegrade so are more destructive to the environment.

The association also found the use of larger, thicker rubbish bags had risen 60 per cent since the levy was introduced in July 2009.

The group said this was probably due to people no longer using plastic shopping bags for their domestic refuse.

Release of the association's report coincided with government plans to widen the levy to cover all plastic bags including reusable bags and those given away at fruit, vegetable and meat markets.

An Environment Bureau spokesman said 75 per cent of shoppers did not get their plastic bags from the 3,000 registered shops and supermarkets taking part on the levy.