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Elizabeth Cheung

Hong Kong restaurants may start testing alternatives to certain single-use plastics for items such as food containers in the next two months, the environment minister has said, as the government gauges the business sector’s feedback before expanding the scope of a ban.
Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan on Saturday gave the update on the second phase of the government’s plan to rid the city of disposable plastic items, after the first stage was introduced in April last year.
“We may launch a large-scale trial as there are more than 100 types of alternatives [to plastics]. Let’s try and see which ones work,” Tse told a radio programme
He added that feedback would also be passed on to suppliers to see how the products could be improved.
Under the first phase of the ban, disposable plastic products such as polystyrene tableware, straws, stirrers and cutlery can no longer be sold or offered by businesses for takeaway and dine-in services. Hotels are also barred from offering single-use plastic items such as toothbrushes, shower caps and bottled water for free.
Authorities have yet to announce a concrete timetable for the second phase, under which they are set to ban all disposable plastics in restaurants. The sale and free distribution of plastic food containers, cups, cup lids, six-pack yokes for canned drinks, tablecloths and plastic-stemmed dental floss will also be prohibited.
“We are now planning the trial scheme, which could be launched in one to two months. We will recruit more restaurants to join the trial,” he said.
“The trial aims to find out which products are more ready … so we don’t need to procrastinate and can handle the difficulties before introducing the laws.”
Tse said authorities hoped to implement the second phase “as soon as possible”. The government previously said it could begin as early as this year.


Citing feedback from businesses, Tse said there were effective alternatives to plastic containers for rice and soup, but lids were the biggest problem as they could loosen and soften quickly.
He added that the second phase would become mandatory once the right alternatives were available, as the business sector still needed to conduct tests.
Edwin Lau Che-feng, founder and executive director of The Green Earth, said he understood why the government was taking such an approach.
“The government is more cautious, as there were some hiccups in the launch of phase one ban,” Lau said.
During the first phase of the ban, some consumers complained about the alternatives, such as paper straws that quickly became soggy or wooden spoons that were too flat to use when eating soup.
Lau urged the government to give a clear timetable on how long the trial would take.
“I hope the government will not keep on testing without an end,” he said. “They should give the public a rough idea, for example, testing alternatives for 10 items for two months. Results could then be announced to the public.”
Tse said 80 to 90 per cent of restaurant customers no longer asked for disposable cutlery when buying takeaway and about 30 per cent of establishments did not provide the items at all.
The first phase, which has been in effect for more than a year, could also help prevent the use of around 60 million sets of disposable cutlery each year, Tse said.
As of late April this year, authorities had received 159 complaints against restaurants violating the plastic ban and issued 27 fixed penalty tickets.


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Food containers among items in second phase of single-use plastics ban, as environment minister first looks to gauge feedback


Food containers among items in second phase of single-use plastics ban, as environment minister first looks to gauge feedback.


Hong Kong restaurants may start testing alternatives to plastics in next 2 months

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Food containers among items in second phase of single-use plastics ban, as environment minister first looks to gauge feedback

Food containers among items in second phase of single-use plastics ban, as environment minister first looks to gauge feedback