For every plastic bag there is a cost. Environmentally, we have long known this: they are polluting and damaging. But many of us who go shopping today will find that the phrase has taken on another meaning. The government's 50 cent-per-bag levy went into effect at midnight and we will be charged for each one we ask for unless we have another way of getting our purchases home.
The charge is not big and we can afford to pay. Some shops have been trying to get around the rule by pre-packaging items in plastic bags with handles. Inconvenience is being created. Ridding our city of plastic bags is in all our interests.
Like elsewhere in the world, we have been talking for some time about making this move. Some governments have heavier taxes than ours, while others have banned plastic bags outright or done nothing. The regulation may not seem right for an economy based on free market principles. But given the slow progress we are making towards caring for our environment, it is nonetheless correct. This is a small, but important, step towards increasing awareness and putting Hong Kong firmly on the road to recycling its waste.
We each use three plastic bags a day, a total for our city of eight billion a year. Most become part of our easy come, easy go, society - they accompany us for the short time it takes us to go from the shop to home and are promptly thrown away. Few of us have given much thought to what 'away' actually means. In Hong Kong's case, it is mostly dumping the bags into scarce landfill space, where they will break down over hundreds of years into tiny, toxic, particles that leach into the soil and water. Others litter streets and parks or end up in the ocean, where they kill sea life.
Plastic bags comprise only a small percentage of our waste. But recycling is an integral part of prolonging the life of our landfills. Hong Kong's mindset in this regard is formative compared to other developed societies. Starting small by discouraging the use of an item that can easily be substituted for reusable bags is an obvious decision.
From today, start we must. The supermarkets, convenience stores and other retailers registered in the plastic-bag-levy programme have to stick firmly to the rules. We have to take bags with us when we go shopping. The law has to be complied with, but we also have to take on board the spirit behind it. That means working concertedly towards resolving more complex recycling and waste problems to ensure we take the best possible care of our natural surroundings.
