Bring Your Own Bag

The future of waste disposal has finally arrived. And it stinks. I asked myself this simple question, since when is Hong Kong so environmentally conscious? I am not so sure the general public is prepared to embrace the government calls to support the trend. I say this because many many years ago, my mum used to bring a bamboo basket to shop in the market. Everything included, you will find vegetables, fish and meat all in her Pandora’s basket. Yes, in those days people use to wrap everything with old newspaper. Now if you look back, people then have the notion of shaping a better world. You have a basket to be filled with the day’s food. You also have newspaper undergoing the ‘recycled’ phase, you read, and then you use it to wrap meat or fish. Sounds good, isn’t it? That was well before the damn western world invented PLASTIC.

And, as if without any of us noticing it, plastic inventories dominate the mummy’s market. Think about it, you have to use plastic for almost everything you do these days. And then, just when we got used to using plastic, the damn western world made another amazing discovery. Yes, plastic are non bio-degradable. Which in theory will still remain plastic, (ok, dirtier plastic) in the landfill sites.
What I don’t understand, and I always have this puzzling thoughts, is why Hong Kong has taken so long to react? I remember the supermarkets in UK were charging me 4 penny for each bag I used then. Then, meaning 20 years ago! And 4 pennies is roughly equivalent to 50 cents Hong Kong. Today the same charge will be applied come 7th July 2009. I am not so sure if 50 cents per plastic bag will deter anyone from using them. I certainly won’t. Not that I couldn’t care about the extra 50 cents, but more on the issues of how the community will react to just shopping bags. What about the plastic wrappings of foods? Aren’t they the same type of plastic? Aren’t they non bio-degradable as well? If you are going to push for something, you make sure you go for the limit. What’s the point of limiting to supermarkets when the next confectionary you encounter will have plastic wrappings for your daily breads!
What about our daily lunch-box? Are they bio-degradable? What about the many other forms of plastic? Polyethylene, polythene and polystyrene….you name them.

Start counting, one person per lunch box. Is this more or less than the number of shopping plastic bags?

Not forgetting Char Siu Fan plus soup as well!

When will we learn? Perhaps going back to the days where everything is reuseable seems a better idea, Mr. HK government.

You just cannot do one and forget about other main issues. It is what we call "Some days you get the rubbish, and some days the rubbish gets back to you!"