Hong Kong to ban plastic cutlery at restaurants in four years, but green groups call for faster action
- Under first stage of government plan, eateries will be prohibited from offering plastic tableware, straws, stirrers or plates for dine-in service
- But environmental groups question why the long wait, noting mainland China and the European Union have already moved to tackle the problem
Hong Kong restaurants will have to provide more eco-friendly tableware and customers may need to bring their own containers for takeaway meals under a government proposal to eventually ban disposable plastic items.
The plan, which was released on Friday for a two-month consultation, is expected to consist of two phases, with the first stage starting around 2025, which green groups said was far too long.
The city will begin by banning the local sale of disposable expanded polystyrene (EPS) tableware and catering premises would be prohibited from offering the throwaway cutlery, as well as disposable plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery or plates.
Neither would they be allowed to provide disposable plastic cups, cup lids or food containers to dine-in customers, with the ban on such items extended to takeaway service in the second phase.
The government suggested reviewing the scheme about 12 to 18 months after its launch, before deciding when to introduce the second stage.
Environment minister Wong Kam-sing said the damage caused by disposable plastic tableware for a single meal lasted for hundreds of years.
“Countless waste plastic enters the natural environment, including the ocean, each year,” he wrote in the consultation document. “They will eventually be fragmented into microplastics and enter the human food chain.”
Based on figures from 2019, Hong Kong is estimated to be responsible for throwing away about 14.6 billion pieces of plastic cutlery annual, or about 1,940 pieces per person.