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Hong Kong Baptist University POLS 7050 Master of Public
Administration
Environmental levy Scheme on plastic shopping bag
Chiu To Yang, Edith (10406840)Young Wan, Wendy (10428747)
Rapid economic development makes pollution problem becoming more serious.
Each year, Hong Kong produces millions of tones of solid waste.
8 billions of plastic shopping bags disposed into the landfills = average one citizen dispose more than 3 plastic shopping bags per day.
Plastic bags: Not bio-degradable (Occupy
the landfill area) Petroleum products (High
production cost ) Kill animals
Government move2005/12/8 Government released "A Policy Framework
for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste (2005-2014)“ Objective: Introduce the policy direction on environmental protection
2006/4/15 1st “No Plastic Bag Day” campaign (by Green Student Council) Response has been quite good
Jun 06 to Dec 06
2nd No Plastic Bag Day campaign Co-organized by major green groups with the support of EPD First Tuesday of each month Participating retail chains would not give out plastic shopping bags and encourage customers to donate 50 cents for each plastic shopping bag
June 06 to Dec 06
Result :3 major supermarket chains had reported 24 to 29% reductions in plastic-bag usageNumber of retailers participating has increased from the initial 6 to 39
May 07to July 07
2 months public consultation on An Environmental Levy on Plastic Shopping Bags
Oct 07 3rd of “No Plastic Bag Day” campaign(From once a month to one day of each week)
First phase of Environmental Levy Scheme on Plastic Shopping BagsJul 09
Registered retailers to charge their customers an environmental levy of 50cents for each PSBRetailers must keep records on 1) No. of plastic shopping bags delivered 2) the amount of levy collected 3) submit returns and payments collected to the EPD on a quarterly basis. 2,600↑ qualified Hong Kong retail outlets had registered under the scheme
Jan 11 to Aug 11
Half-year of public consultation on Second phase of Environmental Levy Scheme on Plastic Shopping Bags (the Levy Scheme)
2nd phase
To extend the scheme to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) about 60,000 of retailers would be affected
2nd phase of Environmental Levy Scheme on Plastic Shopping Bags
The number of rubbish bags, pre-packaging bags, paper bags, recycled bags and a series of environmental problems arose after the implement of the levy scheme.
It is easier for major supermarket or convenience store chains to control their cost as their operations are computerized. But it is difficult for us to comply with the levy incurring requirements without high administrative cost…
Low-income groups will be affected by the levy as it would lead to extra spending on rubbish bags.
How can government monitor so many retail stores and make sure they all comply with the scheme?
The levy scheme successfully create a direct economic incentive to encourage consumers to switch to reusable shopping bags.
Retail outlets will keep their PSB incomes We use plastic bag because of convenience, but
not essential Need less supervision when retail stores get use
to the scheme
SuggestionsIn the short term Promote use of reusable
bags and packing (Bring your own bag)
Introduce legislation requiring the food packaging industry and organic recovery system operators to use bio-plastic materials
SuggestionsFor the long term Put more afford on the
researches of environmental sciences and technologies
Introduce new technology that can replace plastic bag
Environmental education and publicity
Promoting going green as being trendy and cool daily life