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Press Release
Product Eco-responsibility Bill to be introduced
The Government will introduce the Product Eco-responsibility (PER) Bill into the Legislative Council to provide a legal framework for implementing producer responsibility schemes (PRS), with the environmental levy on plastic shopping bags as the first scheme under the bill.
PRS could take the form of, amongst others, product take-back schemes, deposit-refund schemes, advanced recycling fees and environmental levies, the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, said today (December 20).
“PRS is a key policy initiative in the ‘Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste (2005-2014)’ for waste reduction, recovery and recycling. It is in line with the principle of ‘polluter pays’ and emphasises the sharing of ‘eco-responsibility’”, Mr Yau said.
“As the first PRS under the bill, the environmental levy on plastic shopping bags was to address the indiscriminate use of plastic shopping bags in Hong Kong,” he said.
Mr Yau said the scheme involved a phased introduction of an environmental levy of 50 cents on each plastic shopping bag distributed by retailers, with the first phase covering chain or large supermarkets, convenience stores and personal health and beauty stores.
“Subject to the enactment of the PER Bill, we expect the implementation of the environmental levy on plastic shopping bags will start in the first half of 2009. We will review the effectiveness of the scheme after one year of its implementation,” he said.
“A two-month public consultation conducted between May and July this year indicated overwhelming public support for the proposed levy. The introduction of the PER Bill is to respond positively to this public aspiration on environmental protection,” Mr Yau added.
“Our landfill survey suggests that Hong Kong people dispose of more than three plastic shopping bags per person per day. It is estimated that the levy could help reduce about 50% of the plastic shopping bags distributed by the prescribed retailers,” he said.
In parallel with the introduction of the environmental levy, the Government will continue to work with green groups and retailers to strengthen public education on the reduction, reuse and recovery of plastic shopping bags.
The PER Bill, to be published in the Gazette on December 21, will be introduced to the Legislative Council on January 9, 2008.
Ends/Thursday, December 20, 2007
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