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LCQ9: Non-woven environmental bags
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     Following is a question by the Hon Joseph Lee Kok-long and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, at the Legislative Council meeting today (March 9):

Question:

     It has been reported that since the official implementation of the Environmental Levy Scheme on Plastic Shopping Bags (the Levy Scheme) by the Government on July 7, 2009, shops have been striving to be the first in producing environmental bags, many of which are non-woven bags, to replace conventional plastic bags. There is even a phenomenon of indiscriminate distribution of environmental bags. It has also been reported that a green group has pointed out that environmental bags might cause a greater impact on the environment because the plastic content of non-woven environmental bags is higher than that of conventional plastic bags, and recycling of the former is not easy as they have components such as threads and buttons. Moreover, the public's reuse of non-woven environmental bags may possibly give rise to hygiene problems. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) whether the authorities have compiled statistics on the quantities of conventional plastic bags and non-woven environmental bags produced after the implementation of the Levy Scheme; if they have, of the details; if not, whether they will consider compiling such statistics so as to understand the change in the quantities produced;

(b) whether the authorities have compiled statistics on the quantity of non-woven environmental bags discarded after the implementation of the Levy Scheme; if they have, of the details; if not, whether they will consider compiling such statistics; how they handle those non-woven environmental bags discarded;

(c) given that the quantity of environmental bags used has been on the rise, whether the authorities have assessed if the use of non-woven environmental bags has less impact on the environment than the use of conventional plastic bags had in the past; if they have, of the details, if not, whether they will consider conducting such assessment; and

(d) given that the Environment and Conservation Fund Committee has allocated $10 million to support a Public Education Programme of the "Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste (2005-2014)", so as to support and complement the implementation of the aforesaid Levy Scheme, whether the authorities have assessed the effectiveness of this public education programme since its implementation, and the adequacy of public education on the potential hygiene and health problems (such as breeding bacteria and spreading viruses) caused by the public's reuse of non-woven environmental bags; if they have not, whether they will consider conducting such assessments?

Reply:

President,

(a) As required under the Levy Scheme, registered retailers have to submit to the Government quarterly returns setting out the number of plastic shopping bags (PSBs) distributed to customers in the non-exempted areas in all of their registered retail outlets as well as the amount of levy collected for such bags. On the other hand, many PSBs are manufactured outside Hong Kong. Therefore we have no information about the overall number of conventional plastic bags and non-woven environmental bags manufactured and it is difficult to compile statistics about the number of bags manufactured.

(b) According to the landfill survey conducted after the implementation of the Levy Scheme, some 17.7 million reusable PSBs (including non-woven environmental bags) were disposed of at landfills in 2010, equivalent to about 0.4% of the overall PSB disposal. Non-woven environmental bags could be reused, but the Government does not encourage excessive distribution of such bags by any organisations or retailers. At the same time, we also encourage the public to practise source separation so as to recover and recycle the plastic materials that have been discarded.

(c) We have been encouraging the public to use reusable shopping bags. Many reusable shopping bags currently available in the market are manufactured with non-woven materials that are made of polypropylene. But there are other alternatives that do not contain plastic materials, such as those made of cotton that are easily washable and reusable. By using reusable shopping bags, we could reduce the use of single-use PSBs.

(d) Through the Environment and Conservation Fund, the Government has been sponsoring non-profit-making organisations to conduct public education programmes relating to PSBs. In an overall term, the various public education programmes already completed have reached out to an aggregate audience of over 100,000. Through these programmes, we have conveyed to the public clear messages on the proper use of reusable shopping bags. Such messages include reducing the use of PSBs and reusing such bags, as well as practising waste separation at source so as to facilitate the recycling of the PSBs that have been disposed of. In addition, we have disseminated to the community the relevant messages and the objectives and details of the Levy Scheme through other publicity channels. In general, we believe that the effectiveness of the relevant publicity and public education is satisfactory; the Levy Scheme has also been implemented smoothly. So far we have not received reports about the use of non-woven environmental bags leading to hygiene or health problems. We will continue to monitor the situation and where appropriate include relevant information in our publicity materials so that the public could be reminded to pay attention to the cleanliness and hygiene of their reusable shopping bags when reusing such bags.

Ends/Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 11:50

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