I refer to your editorial ('We must build on this plastic bag success', July 7).
The Hong Kong Retail Management Association totally agrees that 'there is no reason why the scheme should not now be widened and promptly turned into a full-blown recycling programme'.
We are very disappointed that Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau Tang-wah has not committed to a firm timetable for extending the scheme, to achieve the goal of reducing total plastic shopping bag usage in Hong Kong.
Applying the levy to only 4 per cent of all retail outlets cannot be justified as an effective means to achieve the policy objective of reducing indiscriminate use of total plastic bags in Hong Kong. It should not be a matter of choice on whether to extend the scheme beyond the existing prescribed retail outlets, but how.
The figures on how many plastic bags were discarded from 2005 to 2009 - released last November by the Environmental Protection Department - reveal that voluntary efforts and education resulted in a reduction of 54 per cent of total plastic bags dumped into landfills during that period.
The total estimated usage of plastic bags has been reduced by only a further, modest 13 per cent since the levy scheme was implemented.