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Hong Kong falls behind Macau in battle to reduce mountain of throwaway plastic cutlery

  • Critics rubbish ‘snail’s pace’ approach in Hong Kong to banning single use plastic cutlery to protect the environment
  • Environmentalists say problem has worsened as Covid-19 fuelled increase in takeaway food

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Critics say Hong Kong is not moving fast enough to phase out plastic cutlery, which has become a major environmental problem.  Photo: Shutterstock

Hong Kong has fallen behind Macau in the banning of single use plastic tableware, green campaigners have said.

Critics added the Hong Kong government’s progress in outlawing plastic cutlery was moving at “a snail’s pace” as Macau announced on Monday it would ban importation of the items next year.

Yau Wing-kwong, the chief executive of the Environmental Association green group, said: “Dumping of disposable plastic tableware is becoming an urgent environmental issue here as more people opt to buy takeaways during the epidemic.

“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.

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