Hong Kong has enacted new legislation to halt the sale and distribution of Styrofoam products and single-use plastic cutlery.
Alice Fung reports for The Associated Press.
In short:
- The law bans certain disposable plastic items like forks and straws, while still allowing plastic containers and cups for takeaways.
- Restaurants received a six-month preparation period before the law took effect, with further restrictions on all single-use plastics planned for next year.
- Some businesses have already adapted, moving towards less harmful alternatives, though concerns about increased costs and customer inconvenience remain.
Key quote:
"For a single-use cutlery set, you might think it’s just a small change, but switching the plastic spoon to a paper spoon doubles the cost for us."
— Kitty Chan, owner of Kuen Fat Kitchen.
Why this matters:
Single-use plastics are often used only briefly before being discarded, but they persist in the environment for hundreds of years, contributing heavily to land and marine pollution. This harms wildlife and ecosystems and poses long-term risks to human health as microplastics enter the food chain.
Economic pressures continue the exponential growth curve of plastic production, with no solutions capable of dealing with the problem at scale, wrote EHS founder Pete Myers in 2018.
