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The Under Secretary for the Environment, Dr Kitty Poon, visited an elderly centre today (July 6) to remind the elderly to take their own shopping bags whenever they went shopping.
Dr Poon distributed environmental bags to the senior citizens in the St Jamesˇ¦ Settlement Wan Chai Elderly District Centre and encouraged them to take the bags when shopping. She also showed them posters and video footage to remind them that the environmental levy scheme on plastic shopping bags would come into force tomorrow (July 7).
Dr Poon was pleased by the welcoming response from the elderly. ˇ§I am impressed by the understanding and support by these senior citizens to our efforts to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags. It is important to publicise the message of using/taking your own bag to different sectors in our community,ˇ¨ she said.
ˇ§The levy scheme provides a direct economic incentive to discourage the indiscriminate use of plastic shopping bags. People are encouraged to take their own bags at all times to avoid the levy,ˇ¨ Dr Poon said.
Under the environmental levy scheme, registered retailers are required to charge customers a 50 cent environmental levy for each plastic shopping bag provided. Prescribed retailers include major and chain supermarkets, convenience stores, personal health and beauty stores, and supermarkets in department stores.
Ends/Monday, July 6, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:17
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