Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

Liberal Studies
Independent Enquiry Study Report
Enquiry Question: Is plastic bags levy scheme effective to solve the
root cause?
Year of Examination: 2015-2016
Name of Student: Lam Yik Sze
Class/Group: 5B
Class Number: 16
Number of words in the report:
Notes:
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Table of Contents
A.
B.
C.
D.

Problem Definition
Relevant Concepts and Knowledge/Facts/Data
In-depth Explanation of the Issue
Judgment and Justification of the Issue

A. Problem Definition
A1. Introduction
Nowadays, the environmental problem happening all over the
global has been exaggerated. For example, according to NASA1, on
Greenlands ice sheet, a vast icy landscape crisscrossed by
turquoise rivers and dotted with melt water lakes, a small cluster of
orange camping tents popped up in late July. Every city has taken
some measures to alleviate the case including Hong Kong. The
government has taken a Plastic Bag Levy Scheme to tackle the
overuse of plastic bags. The legislation mandating a charge of 50
cents for each plastic shopping bag requested at Hong Kong shops
will come into effect on April 1 for all retailers, instead of just the
3,300 registered retail outlets under the current phase of the
1 http://www.nasa.gov/feature/a-summer-of-nasa-research-on-sealevel-rise-in-greenland

scheme according to South China Morning Post2.

Refer to the Oxford Dictionary; plastic bags3 refer to a bag made of
a thin, flexible plastic material, especially one with handles supplied
by a shop to carry goods purchased there. Plastic shopping bags
(PSBs) are usually made of materials that are not easily
degradable; their excessive use and their subsequent disposal is
creating pressure on the already stretched landfill resources.
The Environmental Levy Scheme on Plastic Shopping Bags (PSB
Levy Scheme) is the first producer responsibility scheme introduced
under the Product Eco-responsibility Ordinance. It created a direct
economic disincentive to encourage consumers to reduce the
indiscriminate use of plastic shopping bags. The Product Ecoresponsibility (Plastic Shopping Bags) Regulation further sets out the
implementation details of the PSB Levy Scheme. The first phase on
the Environmental Levy Scheme on Plastic Shopping Bags has
commenced on 7 July 2009.
Above are the plastic bags that are charged. Generally speaking, all
bags that contain plastic will be into account and they are charged
as 0.5 cents.

Figure1
Notwithstanding the implementation (figure1) at 1/4/2009, there is
a supplementation on the scheme which implements at1/4/2015.
Penalty ($2000) will be given to the retailers who dont follow the
regulation.
The included retailers are the following:

2http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1753454/plastic-baglevy-confuses-hong-kong-shoppers-full-scheme-comes-force
3 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/plastic-bag

Figure
2

According to figure 2, the highest register is the convenience store

which is 1344 and the least are the direct sales outlets which are 5.
It shows that there are still lots of shop willing to join the scheme
which may cause the scheme difficult to carry out.

Figure3
Figure 3 shows that the usage of plastic bags is increasing. Despite
the 68% decreased of vest pockets and 20% of perforated bags, the
rest including non-charged bags are sharply increasing. It shows
that the implementation of plastic bags levy scheme is lack of
effectiveness.
A2. Research Objectives

The objectives of this research are as follows:

1. To find out whether the scheme can solve the root cause.
2. To investigate the coverage of the scheme
3. To inquire the long term impacts of the scheme
4. To explore the alternate method of reducing rubbish bags in Hong
Kong
5. To identify the difficulty of continuing the scheme

B. Relevant Concept and Knowledge/Facts/Data

Effectiveness4 refers to the degrees to which objectives are
achieved and the extent to which targeted problems are solved. In
contrast to efficiency, effectiveness is determined
without reference to costs and, whereas efficiency means "doing the
thing right," effectiveness means "doing the right thing."
Coverage is the scope of protection (cover) provided by
a policy through inclusion of named perils or risks.
Feasibility is an analysis and evaluation of a proposed project to
determine if it (1) is technically feasible, (2) is feasible within
the estimated cost, and (3) will be profitable. Feasibility studies are
almost always conducted where large sums are at stake.
Quality of life5 is a highly subjective measure of happiness that is
an important component of many financial decisions. Factors that
play a role in quality of life vary according to personal preferences,
but they often include financial security, job satisfaction, family life,
health and safety.
Sustainable development is the "Development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs." It is quoted from the World
Commission on Environment and Developments
Environmental awareness6 refers to advocacy for or works toward
protecting the natural environment from destruction or pollution. It
is the theory that environment rather than heredity is the primary
influence on intellectual growth and cultural development.
Plastic bags levy schemes exemption is that plastic bags solely
used to contain (i) fresh fish and fresh fish products, (ii) fresh meat
and fresh meat products, or (iii) fresh poultry and fresh poultry
products plastic bags solely used to contain the products Plastic
4 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/effectiveness.html
5 http://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/quality-oflife.asp#ixzz4ENSw87K4
6 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Environmental+awareness

bags solely used to contain (i) fruit, nuts or vegetables, (ii)

confectionery, (iii) dairy products, (iv) cooked food, whether cold or
hot, or (v) ice provided that such products are not otherwise
contained in packaging
B.1.1 Methodology
The target interviewees are the general public. The questionnaire
was uploaded to a social networking website, sent out through email and Whatsapp. There were 100 respondents habits on plastic
bags, knowledge on the scheme and other alternative measures.
B.1.2 Interviews
The data collection process includes an interview with the owner of
The Corporate Process, Zenith Lin. He has been leading the
company of printing. He was asked about the amount of shopping
bags printed and whether there is a reduction of using shopping
bags in Hong Kong.
B.1.3 Site visits
In order to study the population of people getting plastic bags in
Hong Kong, I went to welcome supermarket to observe the people
who get plastic bags at 13/7. Photos of the supermarkets were
taken.
B.1.4 limitation
There are only 100respones were collected from the survey and
most of the respondents were 15-19, the sample size may not be
large enough to reveal the opinions of the general public.

C. In-depth Explanation of the Issue

C.1.Trend of peoples habits on shopping
This part investigates the habits of using plastic bags and recycling
bags.

Figure 4
There is a trend for people using plastic bags according to the
questionnaire. A quarter of interviewers are seldom using plastic
bags for shopping. One- third people are often use plastic bags.
Admittedly, the trend of using plastic bags is decreasing. The social
awareness of Hong Kong people has been raised due to promotion
and education and also the unfavorable condition for shoppers.
This is a chart observing the usage of recycling bags.

Figure 5
It shows that people are more willing to bring own bags to shop.
45% of respondents always use recycling bags as there is sufficient
advertisement not only on television but also on newspaper. Apart
from that, Hong Kong people are money oriented so they would be
profit maximization. They would not waste the petty cash and save
as much as possible. As a result, they bring their own bags and

foster this habit.

C.2. Effectiveness of plastic bags levy scheme in Hong Kong
Plastic bags levy scheme in Hong Kong follows the Polluter Pays
Principle7.it states that the external costs of pollution are monetized
and the polluters are made responsible for the pollution costs. The
Environmental Protection Department8 describes that everyone
contributes to pollution through sewage, waste, fuel consumption
and other activities, so everyone must participate in cleaning it up.
C.2.1.Coverage of the scheme in Hong Kong
On scale, the first phase 9of the PSB Levy Scheme was
implemented on 7 July 2009 targeting some 3,000 retail outlets
mostly being supermarkets, convenience stores and Medicare and
cosmetics stores. Due to its narrow scope, there is a consultation of
increasing the number of charging retail sales. Upon full
implementation the PSB Levy Scheme will cover more than 100,000
points of retail sales. It is perfectly understandable that the scheme
cannot cover all the stores. Thus, it is planned to target other shop
in the following phase.
On population, almost all people know that the enforcement of the
scheme.

Figure 6

In figure 6, it shows that 98.8%of citizens know the enforcement of

the scheme. It shows that the promotion is enough to raise
everyones attention.
In figure 7, it shows that due to the unfavorable environment
created by the government, there is 98.7% of respondents know
that requesting for a plastic bag requiring$0.5. It reveals that Hong
Kong people focus on money and material possessions and they are
materialistic. Hence, this scheme is suitable for us and that
7 Book: Hong Kongs environmental policy in a ten year stall19972007
8
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/sites/default/files/epd/english/environme
ntinhk/waste/prob_solutions
9
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/pro_resp
onsibility/env_levy.html

everyone will follow.

Figure 7
On products, the scheme has comprised numerous types of plastic
bags including plastic shopping bags with handle, handle hole,
perforated line for tearing out handle hole, carrying string or strap,
or any other carrying device on, or attached to, non-woven bags,
and paper bags with plastic lamination in the first phase. The next
phase also embraces the flat- top bags. It is obvious that the
coverage of the scheme is becoming widened.
C.2.2.Feasiblity of the scheme in Hong Kong
Given that the sellers can keep the charges of the plastic bags, it
encourages the owners to apply the charging scheme. For each
plastic bag, sellers can charge them for $0.5 dollars. Figure 8 shows
that there would be a profit on government finances in the scenario
2. Compare to scenario 1, there is a HK$629679303 increase in
scenario. The overall trend is sharply increased. The peak is in the
scenario 3 which is the HK$617512035 for both all levies and 80%
levy collected.

Figure
8

C.2.3.Long term impact of the scheme in Hong Kong

In the economic impact, it can help improve the profit of the some
small and medium enterprise. As said before, the charges would be
left to the enterprises. It can help them to increase the profit. Then,
they will the income and their purchasing power will also increase.as
a result, they have more material enjoyment and the economy in
Hong Kong will also be enhanced. Nevertheless, every coin has its
two sides. For plastic industry, they will have a great loss as they
will have less order for manufacturing the plastic bags. Continuing
to strengthen the laws, there will be less people to use the plastic
bags and use the recycling bags or bring their own bags. The
demand of plastic will further decrease.

Figure
9

In the social impact, this can raise the publics awareness of

environment. Figure 9 show that citizens 65% of agree that the
scheme can enhance the understanding of importance of plastic
bags. As plastic bags are also one of the wastes in the landfill,
reducing the wastes can alleviate the land pollution at source. In
long term, there will not be a controversy in the social fermenting
the way out of wastes. As there is less argument between residents,
the society will be more harmonious. Nevertheless, every rose has its
thorns. Some of people may find the loopholes of the scheme. For
example, there may be exemption turning to be an evasion. There is
not a regulation on the biodegradable bags. Some people may
pretend their bags as this kind of bags. Some may pretend that their
bags are carrying the food under the exemption. There may be a
social inability.
In environmental aspect, first and foremost, the reducing number
of plastic bags can directly reduce the pressure of landfill as there is
less wastes settled in the three landfill sites in Hong Kong which are
West New Territories (WENT) Landfill, South East New Territories
(SENT) Landfill and North East New Territories (NENT) Landfill.

Figure 10
In figure 10, it shows that the proportion of plastics in municipal
solid wastes rank the forth. The highest proportion is the paper

which is 27%. Should we reduce the amount of plastic bags used,

there will be a certain amount of wastes reduced. In long term, it
can improve the air quality. During the decomposition of wastes,
they will emit some greenhouse gases which may harm us, including
carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulpur dioxide and so on.it will
easily cause some respiratory diseases for the affected residents
like the residents living in Tseung Kwan O. On the hand, it can
enhance the biodiversity and the ecosystem in Hong Kong on the
grounds that the government is considering if adding a landfill site.
If there is less landfill site, there will be more natural places for
plants and animals to grow.

D. Judgment and Justification

D.1.Difficulties for the scheme
The government is difficult to solve the root cause by applying this
scheme. The scheme is aim at reducing the usage of plastic bags.
However, some consumer may replace plastic bags by paper bags
which are not a charging item in the levy scheme. According to the
interviewer Zenith Lin, he said that the scheme doesnt cause a
disastrous effect to them as a publishing sector. The demand of
paper bags is increasing. He thinks that if the government does not
charge paper bags, the sales number would not cause a big
difference. Also; the biodegradable bags are not included in the
scheme. Then, the consumption of shopping bags is not reduced.
With more than one trillion plastic bags distributed worldwide each
year, the amount of waste created through everyday shopping is
substantial, contributing to an ever-growing crisis of polluted water
and non-biodegradable landfills. Estimates suggest there are nearly
50,000 pieces of plastic floating in every square mile of the world's
oceans which take up to 500 years to degrade10. Although the
biodegradable bags are environmental friendly, we cannot overuse
them and this will mislead citizens that if we change the types of
10
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/analysis/2421213/biodegradableplastic-bags-should-be-exempt-from-charge-say-two-thirds-of-public

shopping bags, there are no need to stop the amount used plastic
bags.
Secondly, the government is difficult to monitor. As above said, the
covered retailors store is as many as stars. It is difficult for
government to allocate human resources to check if the shop
owners have charged them as the shop owners would prefer to keep
their shop images. Some governmental parties are afraid of the fact
that some owners may still give to the customers secretly so as to
maintain their relationship. The charge of law- breaker may be too
low and cannot cause a deterrent effect to them. The only method
for government to monitor is to have random checking or reported
by citizens, said by ontv.
Thirdly, it is difficult for government settle down the negative
feeling of the governance. Some may think that this is not an
alternative method to curb the usage of shopping bags as it only
forces the customers to avoid using but it is without reason. It may
also cause the anti-government feeling as it causes the
inconvenience of the customers and the foreign visitors. There is
lack of social acceptance. Hong Kong people may think that the
government is lack of governance. This may further affect the social
stability as they may question about the effectiveness.

D.2.Sugesstion for alternative method to reduce the waste

Figure 11
90% of respondents think that there is not enough for only having
plastic bags scheme. They suggest adding other wastes into
different levy scheme. Their ideas are diversified. The first three are
the construction wastes, electrical wastes and food. As a result, the
government can pose the laws of the charging scheme of electrical
wastes and food.

Figure 12

First, due to the ineffectiveness, the government can strengthen

the laws by including the paper bags and the biodegradable bags.
According to figure 12, the proportion of paper as municipal solid
wastes is the highest. If we regulate paper also, it can be surely
reduce the amount of shopping bags. For example, for electrical
wastes, there is a Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
Recycling Programme11. The WEEE Recycling Programme aims to
channel WEEE for reuse and recycling instead of disposal. The law is
not enough to let the more people to reduce wastes. Otherwise, the
respondents would not choose electrical wastes as the second to
charge.
Second, due to the lack of monitor, having an economic incentive
can motive the citizens. Government can pose the law that any
reported disregarded of law can reward certain amount of money. It
can encourage the citizens to behave self-disciplinary as it is seem
like there are eyes around us. On the other hand, it can deter the
shop owner to give plastic bags to the customers. Besides, having
the levy scheme on food is also one of the panaceas. We could refer
to the consumption tax scheme in Japan which is A consumption
tax12 is a tax on the purchase of a good or service. Consumption
taxes can take the form of sales taxes, tariffs, excise and other taxes
on consumed goods and services. The term can also refer to a
taxing system as a whole where people are taxed based on how
much they consume rather than how much they add to the
economy. According to figure 12, the proportion of food in the levy
scheme is the second. It shows that there is still people care about
food wastes. At present, most of Hong Kong's food waste is disposed
of at landfills together with other municipal solid waste. It is about
3,337 tones (36%) were food waste, constituting the largest MSW
category being landfilled. As a result, there is a necessity to impose
this scheme. It is crystal clear that the government has done certain
promotion. Take Food Wise as an example. However, it is a voluntary
11 https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/workplace/weee_intro.htm
12 http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/consumptiontax.asp#ixzz4EP5qnbVb

measure. Having a compulsory measure can solve the problem.

Third, due to the discontent feeling of the citizens, having more
promotion can let citizens understand the urgency of the case.
Admittedly, there is enough promotion on plastic levy scheme. It is
suggested to educate more to the general public to increase the
understanding of the sustainable development. Moreover, for
construction wastes, there is already a Construction Waste Disposal
Charging Scheme13 posed in 2005. Construction waste producers,
such as construction contractors, renovation contractors or premises
owners, prior to using government waste disposal facilities, need to
open a billing account with the Environmental Protection
Department and pay for the construction waste disposal charge. It
can encourage the landfill user to reduce the wastes. However, it
reveals that there is not enough promotion on this scheme. In short,
promotion should be added for the sake of boosting the awareness
of environment protection.
Conclusion
The scheme is not effective to solve the root cause but it is good
coverage and feasibility. There is good and harm of the plastic levy
scheme. even though the scheme has some dilemma, there are
solution to solve it

13 http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/misc/cdm/scheme.htm