Letters | Hong Kong’s plastic waste menace: put pressure on McDonald’s to stop giving out bags that harm the planet
- While the fast-food chain has said it only offers bags to customers upon request for any purchase of a drink in non-airtight packaging, handing out these bags is environmentally damaging
- The government and the Consumer Council must learn from successful campaigns elsewhere to bring about change
It is disheartening that McDonald’s restaurants in Hong Kong provide plastic bags for customers to carry takeaway drinks, a practice that is unthinkable in most North American and European countries where customers tend to be more environmentally conscious. In response to our inquiry, McDonald’s Hong Kong said restaurants only offer plastic bags to customers upon request for any purchase of a drink in non-airtight packaging. Yet, we have observed that McDonald’s staff put the drinks into bags without asking customers.
In 2015, over 5,000 students from 19 schools in Hong Kong took part in a campaign asking McDonald’s to stop giving away plastic bags for takeaway items in the city and across Asia. Unfortunately, the fast-food chain chose not to listen and missed a great opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to environmental protection.
In 2018, two British girls launched a petition asking McDonald’s UK to stop giving away plastic toys through kids’ meals and gathered over 325,000 signatures; they were backed by the UK environment minister. McDonald’s UK has now agreed to replace all plastic toys in the UK and Ireland with either a soft toy, a paper toy or a book.
The two campaigns, taking on McDonald’s in Hong Kong and Britain separately, with one more successful than the other, highlight the importance of the government and the public putting pressure on large corporations collaboratively to bring about change. We therefore urge the Environmental Protection Department and the Consumer Council to take more concrete measures to stop the use of plastic bags in McDonald’s Hong Kong.