Stop Plastic Bags, Starts The Abuse Of Nonwoven Bags, Claimed Plastic Bag Manufacturers.
Hong Kong government introduced the plastic bag tax of HK$0.5 per each bag distributed to shoppers in retails chains two years ago.The government has issued a consultation paper to further extend the tax to all retailers, prompting plastic bag manufacturers to call for a U-turn of the policy.
Two years ago, supermarkets and chain stores started charging HK$0.5 for each plastic bag distributed to shoppers, which was collected by the government as a plastic bag tax and the revenue so collected are used for protecting and conserving the environment purposes.Since then, the production of shopping plastic bags has dropped by 68%.However, the production of nonwoven, re-usable bags had increased by 96%.Plastic bag manufacturers called this an abuse of nonwoven bags and called for the plastic bag tax be scrapped, while the government has issued a consultation paper on extending the plastic bag tax to all retailers.
The plastic bag manufacturer’s concerns are understandable.The introduction of the plastic bags tax has greatly reduced the demand for plastic bags.
However, change in habit is a one-way avenue.When shoppers are used to bringing their own bags, they will hardly request anymore plastic or nonwoven bags and the demand for them will thus drop further.And although initially the demand for reusable nonwoven bags increased 96%, as households have collected enough reusable bags, the demand will stop increasing and so will the revenue for the manufacturers.And as the government proposed to further extend the plastic bags tax, the future for the manufacturers looks even worse.
The manufacturers should step back and look at the impact they are making on the environment and planet earth.The fact that shoppers are using re-usable bags is actually helping to save the earth.Of course there are various ways that plant earth is being damaged, like the release of carbon dioxide gas from car exhausts, excessive use of air-conditioning in office buildings etc.Stopping the abuse of plastic bags is only one of the ways to conserve the environment.However, judging from the results, this is a well-implemented scheme.Nowadays we can see people either bring their own bags or use no bags at all in supermarkets.Should plastic bags still be freely distributed in those outlets, they will finally end up in the trash without being re-used.
Perhaps one piece of advice for the manufacturers is to diversity their business into other areas besides manufacturing nonwoven bags.It is envisaged that the demand for the nonwoven bags will become flat one day, as the government plans to introduce tax for these bags as well.To ensure sustainable business, they should explore other environmental friendly business areas such as re-cycling, or use their existing resources to produce other products which have potential to grow.Calling for a U-turn in a policy that has successfully reduced the abuse of plastic bags is a far cry from being environmentally friendly, no matter how they make up the math.