{"id":262,"date":"2013-03-08T17:20:34","date_gmt":"2013-03-09T00:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/?p=262"},"modified":"2013-04-11T12:11:36","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T19:11:36","slug":"plastic-shopping-bags-levy-scheme-in-hk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/2013\/03\/08\/plastic-shopping-bags-levy-scheme-in-hk\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Shopping Bags Levy Scheme in HK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong (HK), a city of 1,104 km\u00b2 (less than half the size of Greater Vancouver)\u00a0has a population of 7 million people<sup><a href=\"#ref\">1<\/a><\/sup> (more than triple of the population in Greater\u00a0Vancouver<sup><a href=\"#ref\">2<\/a><\/sup>). HK \u00a0is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Like other\u00a0affluent\u00a0economies, HK is facing the challenges of waste management, among which\u00a0municipal\u00a0solid waste (MSW) management is of top concern. In a formal and comprehensive study done by \u00a0GHK Ltd. (a consulting company) in March 2007, it shows that if the municipal solid waste disposal rate were not controlled, \u00a0the existing landfills in HK was expected to reach \u00a0full by 2015<sup><a href=\"#ref\">3<\/a><\/sup>. \u00a0It is only sensible for any\u00a0government\u00a0to take serious steps to deal with a pressing matter like this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Brief of Plastic Shopping Bags (PSBs) Levy Scheme<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Political Origin &amp; Goals<\/h3>\n<p>Having sensed the crisis of MSW management as well as aligning with the world&#8217;s environmental protection initiatives, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) of\u00a0the Government of HK set out the Policy Framework for the management of MSW in 2005.\u00a0The Policy Framework suggests introducing producer responsibility schemes (PRS) as a\u00a0key policy tool based on the &#8220;polluter pays&#8221; principle as one of a series of initiatives to help achieve\u00a0MSW objectives<sup><a href=\"#ref\">3<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0MSW objectives include the followings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 12.997159004211426px;\">use sustainable practices in MSW management<\/span><\/li>\n<li>reduce the amount of MSW generated<\/li>\n<li>increase recycling of MSW<\/li>\n<li>reduce the disposal of MSW at landfills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Under this Policy Framework, Plastic Shopping Bags (PSBs) Levy Scheme was proposed by EPD \u00a0in May 2007. \u00a0\u00a0It\u00a0aims to provide a direct economic incentive to encourage the public to reduce use of plastic shopping bags. \u00a0Although less than 2% of the waste sent to the landfills come from PSBs, the government also hope to use the opportunities through this scheme to raise awareness and educate the public to make environment-friendly choices in their daily life.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Pricing<\/h3>\n<p>The PSBs Levy Scheme was set out to charge consumers 50 cents HKD ($0.07 in CAD) per bag they ask for at the cashiers of the prescribed retailers (to be listed). This PSBs levy directly targets the pollutant itself and the polluters. It should reduce the generation of the pollutant being targeted meaning less PSBs being produced\/imported and less ending up in the landfill. \u00a0For the price of the levy, it was supported and believed to be the sufficient rate to effectively reduce use of PSBs. That&#8217;s\u00a0by the majority of about 1000 survey takers from the\u00a0general\u00a0public during the \u00a0public consultation from June to July 2007. \u00a0 This 50 cents per bag pricing seems to base on the public opinion of their willingness to pay for the pollutant instead of the marginal damage of the pollutant, disposal of the PSB. This raises questions about the cost-effectiveness of the levy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Enforcement<\/h3>\n<p>In late 2008, the Plastic Shopping Bags Levy Scheme was made into a Regulation\/ Ordinance<sup><a href=\"#ref\">4<\/a><\/sup>). In July 2009, the scheme was put in effect and\u00a0guarded\u00a0by legislation. The prescribed retailers would be penalized if they failed to follow the scheme. \u00a0This is important to ensure the\u00a0effectiveness\u00a0of the levy in terms of enforcement, compared to a\u00a0voluntary\u00a0scheme.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h3>Use of Levy Revenue<\/h3>\n<p>The retailers return all the levy collected to the\u00a0government on a quarterly basis. \u00a0The levy will go to the environmental fund to support environmental projects<sup><a href=\"#ref\">5<\/a><\/sup>).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In general,\u00a0the proposal received considerable public support despite the opposition from the plastic bag Manufacturers and retailers<sup><a href=\"#ref\">5<\/a><\/sup>).\u00a0However, \u00a0the levy would inevitably increase the consumption of the\u00a0substitutes \/\u00a0alternatives. This was anticipated but the effect was underestimated.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For the plastic bags inside the supermarkets used for produces and bakery goods, for\u00a0hygiene purpose,\u00a0consumers don&#8217;t need to pay for them. This would encourage the consumers to use more of these bags.<\/li>\n<li>For paper bags or laminated bags, they \u00a0simply are not plastic bags and they aren&#8217;t levied. If possible, the retailers, for better\u00a0competitiveness,\u00a0would probably switch to those bags so that their customers won&#8217;t bear the cost of the bags .<\/li>\n<li>Likewise, the consumption of plastic bags for non-shopping purpose such as plastic garbage bags is\u00a0believably to be increased, as people will have to use some kinda of carrier for their household garbage if not the used-to-be-free PSBs. In fact, it&#8217;s shown that the use of garbage bags went up by 63% since the beginning of the scheme to 2011<sup><a href=\"#ref\">6<\/a><\/sup>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The lower income group under this scheme is believed to be most negatively impacted with the charge imposed. They probably used more free PSBs since they probably never had money for garbage bags and so forth.<\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Sector Coverage<\/h1>\n<p>When the\u00a0scheme\u00a0was introduced and in the first 2 years of\u00a0implementation from 2009 to 2011,\u00a0\u00a0it\u00a0targeted\u00a0only the retailers which are the major supermarkets and shops<sup><a href=\"#ref\">7<\/a><\/sup>):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>offer\u00a0all of the following categories of goods for sale:\n<ul>\n<li>any food or drink<\/li>\n<li>any medicine or first-aid item<\/li>\n<li>any\u00a0personal hygiene or beauty product<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">have 5 or more retail outlets; <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">or at least one<\/span>\u00a0retail outlet that has a retail floor area of not less than 200 square meters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In 2012, the government decided to extend the coverage to all retailers<sup><a href=\"#ref\">8<\/a><\/sup>). Thus, the small medium enterprises\/businesses would be affected as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Conclusion:<\/h1>\n<p>There are quite a bit of loopholes in this PSBs Levy Scheme in HK. \u00a0 It does reduce the use of PSBs; the goal at this is reached. \u00a0However, it encourages use of other types of bags by a lot which are more polluting in terms of size and weight. \u00a0Therefore, the overall effectiveness of reducing MSW is minimal or could result in negative effect. \u00a0Also, the pricing and the coverage of the levy makes it less cost-effective. The marginal cost of damage from the\u00a0pollutant PSBs is still unknown. Even though the levy is in place for all retailers, it&#8217;s not in place for all bags. It would lack of cost-effectiveness\u00a0considering the waste of other types of bags would be (further) increased.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"ref\"><\/a>References:<\/h1>\n<p>1.Wikipedia. (Mar 7,2013). <em>Hong Kong. <\/em>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hong_Kong\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hong_Kong<\/a><\/p>\n<p>2.Wikipedia. (Mar 6,2013). <em>Greater Vancouver.\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greater_Vancouver\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greater_Vancouver<\/a><\/p>\n<p>3. GHK Ltd. (Mar, 2007).<em>\u201cAssessment of Benefits and Effects of the\u00a0Plastic Shopping Bag Charging Scheme\u201d\u00a0by GHK (Hong Kong) Ltd. \u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/environmentinhk\/waste\/prob_solutions\/files\/GHK_study.pdf\">http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/environmentinhk\/waste\/prob_solutions\/files\/GHK_study.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>4.\u00a0EPD of Government of Hong Kong. (Dec, 2008).\u00a0<em>PRODUCT ECO-RESPONSIBILITY\u00a0(PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS) REGULATION.\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/news_events\/legco\/files\/LegCo_Brief_Environmental_Levy_Scheme_eng.pdf\">http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/news_events\/legco\/files\/LegCo_Brief_Environmental_Levy_Scheme_eng.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>5. EPD of Government of Hong Kong. (Aug, 2007).\u00a0<em>Public Consultation Report on the\u00a0Proposal on An Environmental Levy on Plastic Shopping Bags.\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/environmentinhk\/waste\/prob_solutions\/files\/Consultation_Report_Levy_Eng.pdf\">http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/environmentinhk\/waste\/prob_solutions\/files\/Consultation_Report_Levy_Eng.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>6.Toloken, Steve.\u00a0(Aug, 2011)<em>. Consumers buy heavier bags; plastics use rises after Hong Kong taxes bags.<\/em>\u00a0Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.plasticsnews.com\/article\/20110805\/NEWS\/308059988\/consumers-buy-heavier-bags-plastics-use-rises-after-hong-kong-taxes-bags#\">http:\/\/www.plasticsnews.com\/article\/20110805\/NEWS\/308059988\/consumers-buy-heavier-bags-plastics-use-rises-after-hong-kong-taxes-bags#<\/a><\/p>\n<p>7.\u00a0EPD of Government of Hong Kong. (Feb, 2010).\u00a0<em>The Environmental Levy Scheme for Plastic Shopping Bags \u2013\u00a0Latest Levy Income.\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/boards\/advisory_council\/files\/wmsc0210.pdf\">http:\/\/www.epd.gov.hk\/epd\/english\/boards\/advisory_council\/files\/wmsc0210.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>8. Tam, Stephanie. (Oct, 2012). <em>Hong Kong Plastic Bag Levy.\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/rso.cornell.edu\/rooseveltinstitute\/hong-kong-plastic-bag-levy.html\">http:\/\/rso.cornell.edu\/rooseveltinstitute\/hong-kong-plastic-bag-levy.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong (HK), a city of 1,104 km\u00b2 (less than half the size of Greater Vancouver)\u00a0has a population of 7 million people1 (more than triple of the population in Greater\u00a0Vancouver2). HK \u00a0is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Like other\u00a0affluent\u00a0economies, HK is facing the challenges of waste management, among which\u00a0municipal\u00a0solid waste [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14442,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[593793],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environments-and-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions\/292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/rosonluo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}