Ban all plastic cutlery by 2025, green groups urge, calling for Hong Kong to speed up legislation
- Investigation by 10 environmental organisations shows only 48 per cent of disposable plastic tableware from city’s major fast-food chains is covered by ban
- Greenpeace campaigner Leanne Tam says it is ‘not difficult at all’ to kick-start phase one, which does not need four years to implement
Fewer than half of some 500 million pieces of disposable plastic tableware provided annually by four major fast-food chains in Hong Kong will be covered by a newly drafted ban, according to green groups calling for quicker enforcement to end the use of such utensils by 2025.
The findings were based on an investigation by 10 environmental organisations which monitored four major fast-food restaurants, namely McDonald’s, Maxim’s MX, Fairwood and KFC, for an hour each during breakfast, lunch and dinner time for seven days earlier this month. They then came up with the estimation based on annual sales volume, the amount of plastic tableware in each order and the ratio of dine-in and takeaway services.
In phase one, the city will ban the local sale and provision of disposable expanded polystyrene tableware by catering premises for dine-in and takeaway services. Eateries will also be prohibited from offering throwaway plastic cutlery, straws, stirrers, or plates.
Neither will they be allowed to provide disposable plastic cups, cup lids or food containers to dine-in customers.
Greenpeace campaigner Leanne Tam Wing-lam accused authorities of making sluggish progress, saying it “was not difficult at all” to kick-start phase one – expected to begin in 2025 – because 26.9 per cent of utensil supplied were simply disposable tableware for dine-in services.
“Many restaurants have already given up offering disposable tableware to dine-in customers. You can say it’s really easy to achieve phase one,” she said.
