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Public
urged to reduce plastic bag waste
The public
is asked to participate in waste reduction by joining the
newspaper trade in stopping the distribution of plastic bags
with the sale of newspapers.
Starting from next Wednesday (December 1), the newspaper trade
will stop providing plastic bags to its customers following
their recent agreement with the Environmental Protection Department
(EPD).
The Principal
Environmental Protection Officer, Dr Ellen Chan, said today
(Friday) that the move was supported by the Hong Kong Newspaper
Hawker Association, members of the Newspaper Society of Hong
Kong, other major newspapers and the three major convenience
chain stores.
"A
directive notice prepared by the EPD is being distributed
to newspaper vendors for display at newspaper stalls on the
streets, as well as those in housing estates and shopping
arcades in order to remind the public and newspaper customers
of the move," she said.
The customers
were urged to stop this wasteful habit of buying newspapers
in plastic bags as this had caused the unnecessary generation
of millions of waste plastic bags each day, Dr Chan said.
In Hong
Kong, plastic bags constitute more than 10 per cent of the
total municipal solid waste disposed of at landfills, amounting
to about 1 000 tonnes a day.
"Such
waste will remain in our landfills for a very long time as
it is not easily degradable.
"It
is therefore important to reduce the use of plastic bags at
source as much as possible," Dr Chan said.
Dr Chan
added that in order to tackle the problem of waste increase,
which had become a major concern in Hong Kong, the Government
launched the Waste Reduction Framework Plan in November last
year.
It was
hoped that through this Plan, the amount of municipal solid
waste requiring disposal would be reduced by 40 per cent within
the next 10 years, she said.
End/Friday,
November 26, 1999
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