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Government welcomes Council for Sustainable Development's report on control of single-use plastics
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     The Council for Sustainable Development (SDC) conducted a public engagement on control of single-use plastics and submitted to the Government today (April 14) the report and its recommendations. The Government welcomed all the recommendations of the SDC.
 
     "I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Chairman of the SDC, Dr Lam Ching-choi, the Chairman of its Strategy Sub-committee (SSC), Professor Jonathan Wong, as well as all SDC and SSC members for their hard work," the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, said.
 
     "The Government has been promoting a plastic-free culture and enhancing recycling measures on all fronts. The Environment Bureau published the Waste Blueprint for Hong Kong 2035 last year. Setting out the vision of "Waste Reduction‧Resources Circulation‧Zero Landfill", the blueprint outlines the strategies, goals and measures to tackle the challenge of waste management up to 2035. Afterwards, the Environmental Protection Department conducted public consultations on the Producer Responsibility Scheme on Plastic Beverage Containers and the Scheme on Regulation of Disposable Plastic Tableware, covering two major types of plastic products disposed of in landfills. The SDC was also invited to conduct a public engagement on control of single-use plastics from September to December last year," Mr Wong added.
 
     "The SDC’s completion of the public engagement for identifying ways to gradually move away from non-essential and hard-to-recycle single-use plastic items marks the end of the final chapter of the above trilogy on reducing waste plastics. The epidemic in the past two years has changed the lifestyle of quite a number of members of the public, including their dining habits which have caused a surge in disposable plastic waste. In this regard, and noting the SDC's recommendations and the general public's concern, we will formulate a work plan to implement the recommendations as soon as possible, and consider speeding up the reduction in the use of plastics, proactively controlling single-use plastic products. I will brief the Legislative Council's Panel on Environmental Affairs meeting on April 25 and respond to further questions."
 
     The SDC made a total of 24 recommendations in five key areas. For details, please refer to the SDC report published on the public engagement website at www.susdev.org.hk.
 
Ends/Thursday, April 14, 2022
Issued at HKT 17:20
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