“But when it comes to environmental protection, the government seems to take more care of the business interest. Officials like to say the manufacturers need time to find suitable alternatives.”

Yau highlighted the government plan was to start banning single use plastic tableware and plastic foam food containers for dine-in or takeaway from around 2025.

But Macau prohibited the importation of non-biodegradable disposable plastic straws and stirring rods from this year and in 2021 banned the importation of styrofoam food containers.

Hong Kong government urged to ban single-use plastics in next three years

Green groups said waste plastic, which makes up about a fifth of the municipal solid waste sent to landfills every day, had become an urgent problem.

But the catering industry argued public education to reduce the use of single use plastic cutlery should be stepped up first.

Non-biodegradable disposable plastic tableware will be outlawed in Macau from 2023 as part of the city's drive to protect the environment.

Macau imposed a plastic bag charge to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags to stores in 2019. A similar scheme was introduced in Hong Kong in 2009.

A total of 3.96 million tonnes of solid waste generated in Hong Kong, more than 10,800 tonnes a day or 1.44kg per person a day, was dumped at landfill sites in 2020.

Waste plastic made up 2,312 tonnes a day of the trash, the third-largest component of the city’s municipal solid waste after food and paper.

The government introduced a pilot scheme last year to encourage people to return used plastic bottles to be recycled. Consumers could get a 10 HK cent refund for every bottle delivered to special collection points.

The government also launched a plastic-free takeaway campaign in 2018 to encourage diners to reduce the use of disposable plastic tableware.

“Many Hong Kong customers value convenience more. So it takes time for people to develop the habit of not taking disposable tableware when buying takeaway,” Simon Wong Ka-wo, of the Chamber of Food and Beverage Industry of Hong Kong, said.

He added that, as an interim compromise, a levy on plastic cutlery could be introduced.

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But Aron Kwok Wai-keung, a lawmaker who sits on the Legislative Council panel on environmental affairs, insisted a charge for plastic cutlery use was not a solution.

“It is like saying if you are rich, you can be allowed to waste resources. We need to stop waste plastics from the source,” he said. “What our officials need is to show their determination to impose stricter rules or a ban. So far, the government’s work is progressing at a snail’s pace.”

Cheng Luk-ki, the director of Green Power, backed Kwok’s views.

“The aim is to reduce waste. After all, plastics have a big carbon footprint too,” he said.

The Environmental Protection Department said its proposed legislation would ban the use and sale of nine types of disposable plastic tableware in phases – and signalled it start sooner than at first scheduled.

“We are actively considering advancing the implementation of the first phase of regulation before 2025 … so as to reduce the disposal of disposable plastic tableware at source as soon as possible and help ease the burden on the environment,” a spokesman said.

“We are now preparing the relevant amendment bill for the proposed regulation which is planned to be introduced to Legco for scrutiny at the end of 2022 or early 2023,”

The government last year announced the Waste Blueprint for Hong Kong 2035, which set out proposals to achieve “waste reduction, resources circulation, zero landfill”.

The blueprint also highlighted the need to explore ways to reinforce the “plastic-free” message.