The following is issued on behalf of the Council for Sustainable Development:
 
     The Council for Sustainable Development (SDC), together with the Elder Academy Scheme under the Elderly Commission, co-operated for the first time to hold an interactive drama and public engagement forum on control of single-use plastics for the elderly at Sha Tin Town Hall today (December 3). The event was organised for the elderly to better understand their thoughts on the issue of single-use plastics and allow the SDC to collect more comprehensive and extensive opinions. More than 120 elderly people attended the event.
 
     Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Council, Dr Lam Ching-choi, said "Elders are valuable assets to our society. Not only do we encourage them to keep abreast of the times through continuous learning and participating actively in society, we also hope that they can embrace the concept of 'active ageing'. Control of single-use plastics can help reduce the greenhouse gas generated by the manufacturing and disposal of plastics, and promote Hong Kong's goal of achieving carbon neutrality before 2050. At present, about one out of every three Hong Kong people is an elderly person aged 65 or above. Therefore, the SDC attaches great importance to the opinions of elders on this public participation matter, and encourages elders to invite their children and grandchildren to share their opinions."
 
     The SDC initiated public participation at an online challenge at the event, and also invited the elderly to share their "plastic-free" shopping experiences. Many of the elderly said that they are used to bringing their own shopping bags, and also bring water bottles and food boxes to reduce the use of single-use plastic products.
 
     In order to promote the concept of sustainable development to the elderly, the SDC plans to co-operate with the Elder Academy (EA) to launch a pilot scheme to organise various types of sustainable development-related workshops and field trips for the elderly, including lectures on low-carbon living. The Chairman of the Committee on Elder Academy Development Foundation, Mr Chan How-chi, expressed his support and encouraged the integration of the concept of sustainable development into the learning scope of the EA.
 
     The SDC launched the public interaction phase of the public engagement on control of single-use plastics on September 30. The public engagement aims to provide members of the public with information on the subject of single-use plastics and initiate discussion on relevant issues with a view to exploring ways to gradually control non-essential and hard-to-recycle single-use plastic items so that the Council can make recommendations to the Government.
 
     The public interaction phase of the public engagement will run until December 29. The Public Engagement Document can be downloaded from the Council's dedicated website (www.susdev.org.hk). Members of the public are invited to send the completed views collection forms in the Public Engagement Document to the Council Secretariat via email (comments@susdev.org.hk), mail (21/F, High Block, Queensway Government Offices, Admiralty, Hong Kong) or fax (3150 8168).

Ends/Friday, December 3, 2021
Issued at HKT 15:00

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