Bring your own shopping bag
So whether it's asking me to pay for plastic bags, or whether there's going to be a plastic bag tax in Hong Kong, I'm all for it.
Since June 1st, there is no free plastic bags in supermarkets in mainland China. If you want to save money from plastic bags, you should start to develop a new habit of bringing your own shopping bags.
It is not easy to form this habit. Hong Kong has been promoting its own shopping bags for several years, but for me, going to the supermarket shopping is something that comes to mind a lot. There is no choice but the plastic bags provided by the supermarket. However, many colleagues and friends around have developed a good habit, every time I go shopping, there will be a green shopping bag in the bag, and every time I pay, I will feel ashamed when seeing others take out their own bags. There are several green shopping bags in the home now, all bought in the supermarket, in order not to want to use more plastic bags and increase the pollution of the environment. It's just that the number of green shopping bags in my home is growing, and I'm not used to it yet, and there's also the fact that these green shopping bags are too small for people like me who go to the supermarket to buy something for about a week. So whether it's asking me to pay for plastic bags, or whether there's going to be a plastic bag tax in Hong Kong, I'm all for it. User ego, that's the price I pay for my bad habits. And I believe that without free plastic bags, more and more people will develop good habits over time.
The hksar government will introduce a bill on plastic bag tax in the legislative council this year and hopes to implement it in Hong Kong within this year. The tax will be levied in several stages, starting with 2,000 large stores. Of course, these businesses aren't happy about losing customers, but I do think big companies need to have some social responsibility to lead, or at least give back. Each bag is taxed at fifty cents. If someone takes the bag and refuses to pay, it is an offence. They are arrested and sentenced to up to three years in prison. Those who take the initiative will be fined between $200,000 and $500,000.
It remains to be seen how this will play out under the state council's executive order to force Hong Kong to remove free plastic bags by law. The difference between charges and taxes is that the former is the income of merchants and the latter is the income of the government, but consumers pay for it anyway. If the government makes me believe that I can spend more on environmental protection, I would rather pay the government, if not, then I would rather give money to the businesses, at least they give me the services and goods I need.
However, in shenzhen's environmental protection draft, published last November, the city recommended that consumers pay for plastic bags, which could be implemented by the end of this year if approved by the shenzhen municipal people's congress. Of course, there are many voices opposing the use of law to ensure paid use, while the opposition is that the government should take more responsibility for the environment and not share it with the public. However, I think it is the most reasonable decision for the mainland of China with a regional gap to be made according to its economic situation.
As for Hong Kong, there are also controversial voices, but not egotistical principles, because the environmental protection education has made people realize that environmental protection is everyone's responsibility, the key is how to use the tax collected.
Anyway, when I was a little girl, my grandma went to the grocery store to buy some vegetables. Those bamboo baskets were hung on the wall of the kitchen. Indeed, when plastic bags first appeared, we marveled at the convenience of our lives, because as long as we throw them away and we can't see them, we don't have to be responsible for them. But we're all wrong. They're all around us, and they give off toxic gases in the landfills, and that's the price we pay.
