Bye to free hotel toiletries, glow sticks and some forms of single-use plastics? Hong Kong public consultation opens on ban
- The proposal also suggests bans on festival decorations and cotton buds, among other non-essential plastic items
- Plastic makes up the third-largest component of Hong Kong’s waste, but less than 10 per cent of it is recycled
Hong Kong could ban glow sticks, festival decorations, free hotel toiletries, cotton buds and other non-essential single-use plastic items under a new proposal that opened for public consultation on Thursday.
The engagement exercise will also allow residents to voice their views on raising the plastic shopping bag levy, which has not budged from the current 50 HK cents since it was first introduced in 2009. But green groups criticised the proposal for lacking a concrete timeline, and questioned the government’s commitment to tackling the issue.
Lam said he hoped the public engagement would give producers insight into what consumers wanted in terms of packaging, while also helping shoppers understand the challenges along the manufacturing chain that led to the use of plastic in the first place.
The latest public consultation follows two previous ones concerning plastic waste, one on a “producer pays” scheme for plastic drink bottles, and another aimed at banning plastic tableware.