Two young entrepreneurs take on plastic bag use in wet markets

Former Chinese University business student Hanley Li Chin-nung was startled to see how many plastic bags Egyptian vendors handed out while shopping in the markets during his three-month internship in the country. "I'd buy three items in a shop and they would put them in three separate bags," he says.

Li, 23, arrived in the country last year to work as a creative consultant for an advertising agency, just as Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mursi was elected president. "Egypt has a lot of culture, and even though the situation was kind of risky I liked being there and met a lot of nice people," he says.

But the heavy use of plastic bags niggled Li to the point where he wanted to find a solution. Unable to find anyone in Egypt to work with him, Li turned his attention back to Hong Kong and a plan began to take shape. He would encourage wet market vendors to buy biodegradable plastic bags at reduced prices, while the production of the bags would be paid for by advertising on them, hence the name CarryAD.

In July 2009, the Hong Kong government implemented an environmental levy scheme on plastic shopping bags that forced retailers to charge 50 cents for every plastic bag used in supermarkets and shops. However, the authorities stopped short of extending the levy to wet markets, citing hygiene concerns. CarryAD, Li says, will support wet market vendors by selling the biodegradable bags to them for much less than the price of conventional plastic bags, as low as a half or even a third of that cost.

Li recruited fellow Chinese University business student Lettie Sin Wing-han, 21, as his partner. "I am an ideas person," he says, "but I don't know how to implement things because I don't have much discipline and resilience. I knew I would need help so I got Lettie to help me."

Sin had never thought of becoming an entrepreneur, but she believed in Li's idea and decided to give it a shot.