Carry on: doubling of plastic levy does job

Supermarkets are giving out only 34 plastic bags an hour on average after their levy was doubled to a dollar, a green group has found.

A survey by Greeners Action found that the number of distributed "flat-top" bags - those transparent handleless ones that customers rip from a spool - dropped almost 90 percent across 54 supermarkets from January to this month, compared to a previous study in June last year.

But supermarkets are still wrapping 76 percent of 206 common fruits and vegetables with plastic, the group said at a press briefing yesterday.

The group visited three branches of two major supermarkets this month and found that five kinds of fruit and vegetables - including grapes, strawberries, carrots, blueberries and sweet potatoes -were wrapped in plastic.

Beatrice Siu Wing-yan, senior public affairs officer at Greeners Action, said it is understandable that some fruit and vegetables need to be packaged because they break easily, but some do not need to be packaged at all.

"Fruits such as strawberries have layers on layers of packaging, more for aesthetic purposes than protection," she said, calling on the government to legislate against unnecessary packaging and bring in laws in the long run to reduce waste.

The study found that 26 large plastic bags and eight flat-top plastic bags were distributed at each supermarket an hour.

That translates to about 93 million plastic bags and 28.5 million flat-top bags expected to be distributed this year. "At a levy of HK$1, that amounts to around HK$93 million," she said.

The distribution of large bags fell 45 percent and flat top bags 89 percent compared to last June's survey, far exceeding the government's expected reduction of 25 percent, the group said.

Greeners Action also found that 65 percent of the 2,271 customers involved in the study used their own shopping bags under the new regulations, a result they found encouraging.

The group proposed doubling the plastic bag levy again to at least HK$2 to further deter people from using plastic bags and called on authorities to refer to measures in the mainland or other countries to limit plastic sales.

The doubling of the plastic bag levy to HK$1 took effect from December 31. The measure also tightened levy exemptions for frozen food and unwrapped food such as fruit.

Retailers may pay a fixed penalty of HK$2,000 if they fail to charge the customer for bags, and repeated or systemic contraventions may carry a maximum fine of HK$100,000 on conviction for first offenders and HK$200,000 on each subsequent offense.

Siu said supermarkets should strengthen training for frontline staff, who "should not be plastic bag salesmen." They should ask customers whether they have their own shopping bags, rather than ask if they need a plastic bag, she added.

Siu said most supermarkets have complied with the new regulations and are no longer putting plastic bags in places visible to customers.

"But throughout the study, we found that many supermarket staff still actively asked customers if they needed plastic bags," she said.

The group called on the government to set a plastic reduction target of 80 percent.

cjames.lee@singtaonewscorp.com