Plastic bag is commonly used when you are grocery shopping, and is usually cheap enough that the stores will not charge for that. Since it is cheap and is free for the customers that people may not caution about how many to use. Thus, it leads to a problem of overusing. In Hong Kong, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is going to propose a bill to the Legislative Council this month which suggests imposing taxes on using plastic bags in supermarkets and convenience stores.

There are two plans for the bill. The first one is charging HKD $ 0.50 (USD $ 0.064) on each plastic bag that customers used, and the second is charging manufacturers and importer HKD $ 12.50 (USD $ 1.60) for each kilogram of plastic bag. If the stores violated the law by giving the customers free plastic bag, there would be a penalty fee from a few thousand to few hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars.

Hong Kong has long been having problem on overusing of plastic bags, and the idea of plastic bag’s tax has been around for years. However, it is the first time proposing to the Legislative Council. According to a study, about 23 million of plastic bags a day in 2005 were sent to landfill and about 30% was from supermarkets and convenience stores, bakers, and restaurants. In 2005, a student organization called The Green Student Council called for legislative to charge taxes on using plastic bag, and finally the EPD adopted the idea and is going to propose it in Legislative Council this month. Besides, The Green Student Council also started a “No Plastic Bag Day” in 2003 which encourages stores volunteer not to use any plastic bags each year on that day. In 2005, over a thousand of stores in Hong Kong join this event.

Beside the environmental concerns, it costs government millions of dollar each year. From 2003 to 2005, the government spent more than HKD $ 45 millions (USD $ 5.76 millions) a year on disposal of plastic bags.

The government also has other plans to reduce the use of plastic bags in Hong Kong. It runs adverting on TV and other Medias to encourage people to bring their own shopping bag years ago. The Food and Environment Hygiene Department which uses about 5 million plastic bags a year pledges to reduce the use of plastic bag. After years of efforts, it actually has some progress on that issue. Three of the leading supermarkets in Hong Kong reduced their use of plastic bags by 24-29% in 2006.

For now, it still was not sure if the bill is going to be passed by the Council. However, it gets the attention from many Hong Kong people about the overusing of plastic bags. It is better for people to reduce the use of plastic bag by knowing the environmental impacts than the government to impose taxes. However, it is one of the ways to put a stop sign on the overusing of plastic bag.

Sources:

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/…

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/…

http://www.rthk.org.hk/…

http://news.wenweipo.com/…

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