The Hong Kong department has found a way to reduce plastic waste, but this seems to be a lost cause. This is after an investigation found out that its departments are giving out umbrella covers.
According to the South China Morning Post, a local green group called Green Action revealed that it performed investigation in 83 buildings managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department from July to August. The findings returned a result suggesting that 60 of the buildings - or 7 out of 10 - gave out plastic bags for umbrellas during the rainy season.
Most of the said bags lacked any guidance for users. It has one; however, that displays a sign urging people to "make better use of umbrella bags."
Greener Action's very own Yip Chui-man said that they are "very disappointed" that some departments are not following environmentally friendly policies. He pointed out how frustrating it is considering that the Hong Kong department has been passionate about "encouraging citizens to adopt a greener lifestyle." What is even worse is the fact that these departments are under the government's jurisdiction.
In a post from NOLISOLI, the city has an estimated 14 million one-off umbrella plastic bags being used from June to September last year. 90 percent of them were not only distributed by commercial establishments but also government departments.
In 2016, plastic comprised one-fifth of the 10,345 tonnes of municipal waste sent on a daily basis to the metro's landfills. The 2,000 or so tonnes of plastic waste was approximately equivalent to the weight of 135 double-decker buses.
Yip further stated that the department in each of its annual reports (from the year 2009 to 2016) would "seriously review" the need to provide umbrella bags to the public. She added the reports stated, "plastic recycling bins would be provided to collect the used bags."
She described this assurance as not being consistent with what is in reality, noting that her group had found only 10 buildings with such recycling bins.
