Plastic Reduction

Pharmacies, newsstands, restaurants and bakery agreeing on extending scope of levy scheme while not transferring to the authority

There is one more week to go for public consultation on the extension of scope of plastic bag levy scheme, the Greeners Action today held a forum on plastic bag levy scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises. Representatives of small and medium sized enterprises were invited to the forum, including Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy Ltd. Representative Mr. Lau Oi Kwok, the chairman of the union of newsstand Mr. Liu Sheh Ching, A-1 bakery customer service manager Ms Leung Ka Yee and Thai Village Café shareholder Ms Lee Yin Yee. The representatives gave discussion the problem the retail industry will face in relation to the extension, also their opinion about the scope of exemption, the way on effectively monitor the scheme, the forum enabled stakeholders like the public and the industry to voice out their opinion to the government, thereby improving the upcoming full implementation of the plastic bag levy scheme.

60,000 retail stores in the territory, 60% of which being small and medium-sized enterprise, are not operating in chained mode. All of the present representatives agreed on the extension of scope of the levy scheme and doing the charging by themselves. The chairman of the Greeners Action Mr. Ho Hoi Wai said in the forum after gathering the opinions that the industry is in support of the second phase of the levy scheme, but it is worried the transferring to the authority would burden the manpower administration, example is the need of upgrading the check-out counter, so they generally thought self-charging the levy is better. The Greeners Action and the industry both think promotion, inspection and enforcement by the government are the key to the success of the levy scheme.