News on plastic bags in Japan and Hong Kong
November 22, 2007 by Eugene
Filed under Asia, Government and Policies, Waste and Materials
In Hong Kong, a leading supermarket chain has started charging customers an optional 20 Hong Kong cents each for a biodegradable shopping bag. This is in response to the government’s plan to introduce an environmental levy of 50 Hong Kong cents each on plastic shopping bags soon. More on the news from The Straits Times website. And if you’re interested in the proposal on the levy on plastic bags, details are available from the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department website.
In Japan, more customers agree to the charge on plastic bags than those that oppose, and 60% of customers bring their own bags. Read more from the Japan for Sustainability article below.
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60% of Shoppers Carry Own Shopping Bags, 12% Always Decline Free Plastic Bags
Japan’s Ministry of the Environment released on May 30, 2007 the results of two surveys conducted in March, 2007: one survey on “customers’ utilization of plastic shopping bags and their awareness of the system for promotion of sorted collection and recycling of containers and packaging” and another survey on “retailers’ efforts to reduce the consumption of plastic shopping bags.”
The results show that, during the week before the survey, 85.0 percent of the customers received free plastic shopping bags every time they went shopping and only 11.9 percent did not.
Approximately 60 percent of those surveyed have their own shopping bags, showing that the practice of utilizing reusable shopping bags has become popular to some extent. Regarding the issue of charging for plastic shopping bags, 46.4 percent of the respondents agreed with the idea, outnumbering those who opposed it (28.9%). The price they said they wouldn’t mind paying for plastic shopping bags varied: Five yen (4 US cents) was the most popular (36.0%), followed by one to two yen (0.8-1.6 US cents) (21.5%) and three to four yen (2.4-3.3 US cents) (10.3%). Those who were aware of the revised Containers and Packaging Recycling Law accounted for 59.8 percent of respondents.
The latter survey of retailers confirmed that about 40 percent of retailers have set numerical targets for reducing the number of plastic shopping bags they distribute. Among specific efforts for reducing plastic bag distribution, the most popular was offering services such as giving customers stamps when they bring their own shopping bags. Only 9.4 percent of retailers were charging for plastic shopping bags.
Source credit: Japan for Sustainability.
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Source: The Straits Times; Environmental Protection Department; Japan for Sustainability. Image attribution: KingOfHiking: (r) 愛, 回家.
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I live in Japan and 60% of people do not use their own bags. I never use bags and I go to the same store over and over and over again and they keep trying to give me bags. There are many reuse bags for sale in stores but I never see anyone using them when shopping. I literally can not remember the last time I saw someone use their own bag. Those figures are messed.