Undercover officers on stealthy plastic-bag mission

James Lee

Environment protection officers will pretend to be customers to check whether shops are giving unnecessary plastic bags after the new HK$1 levy takes effect from December 31.

The measure will also tighten levy exemptions for unwrapped food, including fruit and takeaway meals.

At a press briefing yesterday, the deputy director of environmental protection, Bruno Luk Kar-kin, said that under existing policies, customers can get a transparent "flat top" plastic bag for each unwrapped apple they buy from a supermarket.

But from Saturday next week they will be given only one large plastic bag per transaction to hold all their products.

"Flat top" bags are currently given to shoppers free if they are used to hold frozen food, but they will be charged for the bags under the new scheme.

There will be exemptions. Luk said there is no charge for plastic bags in supermarkets if they are used to hold unpackaged, half-packaged or non-airtight-packaged takeaway food.

That includes takeaway food meant to be immediately consumed.

Bags used for pre-packaging and bags used dry-cleaning and laundry stores are also exempt. In special circumstances, shoppers will be allowed more than one plastic bag free, including if different types of food, such as fish and vegetables, would be spoiled if bagged together; if the plastic bag is not big enough; or if the bag is at risk of breaking.

The principal environmental protection officer, Philip Lee Sui-on, said department officers will go undercover to monitor whether retailers are handing out plastic bags free, and to follow up on complaints.

"Three months after the implementation of the new levy, officers will ramp up inspections to review the implementation situation and to hold briefing sessions with merchants and the public to clarify points that may be unclear," he added.

The department also recommended that retailers put away flat top bags at the checkout so that they are not easily accessible to customers, with staff monitoring the self-service checkout stations so that customers don't take bags without paying for them. Retailers may be required to pay a fixed penalty of HK$2,000 if they fail to charge the customer for bags, and repeated or systemic contraventions may incur a maximum fine of HK$100,000 on conviction for first offenders and HK$200,000 on each subsequent offense.

"During the first month of grace period, we will give advice or verbal warnings to anyone who's breaking the law, instead of really prosecuting the retailers," he said.

But authorities may prosecute retailers who commit repeated offenses. "The plan itself is not complicated and has not seen much push-back from various industries," Luk said.

A senior project officer at environmental group The Green Earth, Wenky Cheung Nga-ting, said there were a lot of gray areas when figuring out which products fall under the exemption criteria.