Gov'ts Half-Hearted Attempt to Cut Plastic Containers, Cutlery

Polyfoam boxes will be banned from 2025 in Hong Kong

 

Hong Kong is a disposable city -- things are easily thrown in the garbage here without much thought. Even though the plastic bag surcharge in place, people don't mind paying 50 cents for it because they didn't think to bring a bag with them. Food in takeaway boxes are mostly in styrofoam containers from local food outlets because they can't afford to pay more for cardboard boxes, but those are lined with plastic so they can't be recycled.

However, the government is now putting its foot down and banning all disposable plastic to start in 2025 -- but not providing much of a roadmap let alone solutions for eateries, who are left scrambling to figure it out on their own.

Fast-food restaurants need to pivot faster

The only plan is a two-step ban. First is banning the sale and use of disposable expanded polystyrene tableware, basically the ubiquitous white foam takeaway boxes, and eateries cannot offer throwaway tableware (disposable plates, cutlery, straws and stirrers).

In the second phase, eateries cannot provide dine-in customers with disposable cups, cup lids or food containers.

What the government should be doing is putting the onus on the consumer to realize they need to change their eating habits and bring their own food containers to restaurants to eat, or take home leftovers. It would also force fast food restaurants like McDonald's to hire dishwashers who are already scarce.

Not enough people consider bringing their own mugs to coffee shops, let alone carry their own food containers to takeaway food and their own cutlery.

Garbage like this was 200 tonnes in 2019

In 2019 Hongkongers threw out an estimated 14.6 billion pieces of plastic cutlery each year, or about 1,940 per person. 

Another crazy fact is plastic and polyfoam dining ware was 200 tonnes two years ago, equal to the weight of 13 double-decker buses.

Green groups say the ban in 2025 is too far off and should be implemented much sooner.

Greenpeace campaigner Leanne Tam Wing-lam criticized the authorities for making sluggish progress, saying it "was not difficult at all" to kick-start phase one because 26.9 percent of utensils supplied were simply disposable tableware for dine-in.

"Many restaurants have already given up offering disposable tableware to dine-in customers. You can say it's really easy to achieve phase one," she said, adding the government did not give a four-year deadline for eateries to stop giving out plastic cutlery and straws that were commonly used in homes and offices.

Again -- it goes back to the consumer. They should have their own set of cutlery at home or in the office to use. Food delivery services are offering the option of not receiving cutlery, but not everyone pays attention when ordering online.

Green groups say 2025 is too far away

Ten green groups held a joint press conference today, saying they were disappointed by the government's planning.

"The sizes of the plastic tableware banned in phase two are much larger than those in phase one. The environmental pollution it [will cause] is more serious. But the government does not have an exact time table for banning these tableware which will cause more pollution," said Tam.

She also pointed out pre-packaged food products were excluded from the ban, and so eateries may take advantage of this loophole to avoid using tableware made of other materials.

And if plasticware is banned, it may lead to an increase in waste of other materials, pointed out by Yu Kin-kong, assistant education and project manager of Green Power. He noted some paper food containers and cups could contain plastic and other materials, making it  harder to recycle.

Also many do not realize that once food touches a paper box that may not be lined with plastic, it also cannot be recycled because of hygiene purposes.

So we are again back to where we started -- the consumer must take more responsibility for their food choices and how they want to eat and store their food.

Food delivery companies are definitely exacerbating the problem. If the government is serious about cutting down the number of food containers going to the landfill then it needs to start getting consumers educated about the seriousness of the issue and offer solutions that people must follow now.

The earth cannot handle all this garbage anymore.

Beginning of the End of Single-Use Plastic in 2025

Beaches have a lot of single-use plastic wash up on shore

 

The Hong Kong government is finally going to tackle single-use plastic -- but not until 2025. So while green groups are pleased the authorities are doing something about the serious problem, it's not fast enough.

Starting in 2025 restaurants need to offer more eco-friendly tableware for takeaway, and customers will need to bring their own food containers. The government will start by banning the sale of expanded polystyrene tableware, including disposable cups, cup lids and food containers to dine-in customers.

Many people have eaten from takeaway boxes

Catering premises would also be prohibited from offering throwaway cutlery, as well as disposable plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery or plates.

In the second phase, no restaurants can use single-use plastic for takeaway.

"Countless waste plastic enters the natural environment, including the ocean each year, Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing wrote in the consultation document. "They will eventually be fragmented into microplastics and enter the human food chain."

According to figures from 2019, Hong Kong is estimated to be responsible for throwing away about 14.6 billion pieces of plastic cutlery annually, or about 1,940 pieces per person.

While officials wanted to cover all types of single-use plastic, pre-packaged food like drink boxes that come with straws will be exempted.

Ban on single-use plastics to start 2025

Environmental groups like Green Earth said the government's schedule ignored the immediacy and scale of the environmental threat posed by takeaway public cutlery, the volume of which had risen during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NGO noted mainland China banned the production and sale of single-use EPS tableweare this year, while the European Union has required all member states to prohibit the use of food containers and cups made from the same materials in the catering industry by this year.

Greenpeace agreed with Green Earth's criticism and urged officials to speed up the implementation of the scheme. But World Green Organization felt the timeline was reasonable.

Regardless the environmental issues Hong Kong has needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Lots of education is needed to teach residents the importance of cutting down single-use plastics and begin to encourage customers to bring their own containers. Charging them HK$1 or HK$2 is not enough of an incentive.

The market has eco-friendly boxes, but are costly

The same goes for plastic shopping bags. It's mostly men who don't bring shopping bags with them, and don't mind paying HK$0.50 for a plastic bag to carry their things in.

Pushing restaurants to use alternative takeaway boxes will be a relief. Many small shops use polystyrene packaging which is shocking in this day and age, but they are purely looking at it from a cost perspective.

Because of the pandemic people are becoming more aware of how much garbage is being thrown away, though for others, as long as single-use plastics are disposed off, it's out of sight, out of mind.

In any event why is the government waiting four years for this change to happen? Why can't this be happening in a year or two the most? 

It is time to protect the environment. Now.