The plastic shopping bag levy

The plastic shopping bag levy


The plastic shopping bag levy will be extended to all 60,000 retail stores but, in a surprise move, the government says the stores will get to keep the money.

At present, the levy applies to only 3,000 chain stores and supermarkets, adding between HK$5.7 million and HK$6.7 million to the public coffers every quarter.

But with up to eight billion plastic bags being dumped in landfills annually, the 50-cent levy could add up to HK$4 billion.
In kicking off a three-month consultation yesterday, Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau Tang-wah said the administration is also proposing to extend the levy to include bags without handles - except for those necessitated by hygiene considerations such as for fresh food, vegetables and bread.

Yau said the first phase of the levy has effectively cut the number of bags distributed by about 90 percent.

However, while plastic bags from the 3,000 retailers only make up 14 percent of the total that find their way to landfills, disposals from other sources increased by 6.7 percent.
However, nearly 98 percent of the SAR's retail outlets are owned by small and medium enterprises that have minimal administrative resources and collecting the levy will add to the costs, Yau said.

"If we require them [SMEs] to keep records of such transactions, as is being done at supermarket chains, it will be a heavy burden for them and we will have to handle as many as 250,000 submissions annually," he said.

A bureau spokesman said "appropriate manpower" will be arranged for inspections if the levy is extended to all 60,000 stores. So far there has been only one prosecution, with the offender fined HK$4,000.