Disposable Plastic Tableware

Disposable plastic tableware refers to plastic cups, spoons, forks, knives and “sporks” (a combination of a spoon and a fork), which are of high demand in fast food restaurants and takeaways (Smith, 2012). A significant proportion of them will end up in landfills after being used once. In 2014, only 5% of plastics were recovered from recycled municipal solid waste (Environmental Protection Department, 2014). This shows that only by recycling, the problem of excessive use of disposable plastic products will not be solved. Instead, a more effective way to solve the problem is to reduce the production of disposable plastics at its origin. Hence, a ban on disposable plastic tableware has been proposed. However, it is worth noting that the ban may

It is argued that the fast-paced lifestyle in Hong Kong has resulted in high demand on fast food meals and take-out orders, which are associated with disposable plastic tableware. If this ban is implemented and customers forget to bring their own tableware, it could greatly reduce the efficiency of the service and lead to a difficult situation. Therefore, some people may object the implementation due to the inconvenience caused and the acceptance rate of the ban may be low. However, with a step-by-step implementation, the acceptance rate and the effectiveness of this ban would be much higher. The plastic bag levy scheme can be an illustration of this argument. The first phase of the scheme only focused on registered retailers, while the second phase was the full implementation (Environmental Protection Department, 2015). After five years of implementation, statistics showed that the use of plastic bags has been greatly reduced by around 80-90%, which can be regarded as a very successful scheme (Environmental Protection Department, 2015). Together with the overseas examples mentioned above, they do not only support that the ban is highly effective and feasible, but also show that banning will not entirely disrupt people’s daily activities, as people are able to adjust their behaviours in accordance with the ban. Similarly, it is believed that the effectiveness of the ban can be seen very soon after citizens

Several researches had demonstrated the benefits of reducing the production and usage of disposable plastic tableware on environmental and health aspects. Socially, this ban proved the success in raising public awareness on environmental-related issues overseas. However, it must be admitted that gaining public acceptance is a challenging obstacle. It is recommended that the government should implement the plan in several stages, integrate alternatives to disposable plastic tableware in community and provides adequate promotion to the public. Only by receiving full support from all stakeholders could the implementation of the ban of disposable plastic tableware be carried out smoothly, and promote sustainability in future Hong