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Polly Hui

More than 70 per cent of consumers admitted that they could have used two to three fewer plastic bags on each visit to wet markets, a survey by Greeners Action has revealed.
A total of 974 people were interviewed at three wet markets last month. The survey showed they had used  2,653 plastic bags.
Among the group polled, 24 per cent said they had used  four bags, and 23 per cent said they had used five bags.
Fifty-five per cent of the group agreed  they could cut  plastic bag usage.
Thirty-four per cent   conceded they could have used two fewer bags  on that visit, and 38 per cent said they could have used three fewer plastic bags.
That could have reduced the 2,653 bags used by half.
Statistics from the Environmental Protection Department released in 2005 showed 860 million plastic bags were disposed of in Hong Kong each year.
Among them,  510 million bags  were used in wet markets or retail stores.
Angus Ho Hon-wai,  executive director of the green group, said  there needed to be more education for  stall owners and customers.
He said  some stall owners had tried to replace bags with weed grass, used for tying up food. But  customers  rejected that idea.
'A stall owner told me that a customer once yelled at him for not providing her with a plastic bag.
'But all she bought was a spring onion. She could have placed it inside any of the  bags she was already carrying,' he said,  citing greed on the part of many  customers who demanded   bags when they did not need them.
Mr Ho said  the survey found  that elderly people were more receptive to the idea of using weed grass to carry food.
'The younger group tended to find using weed grass and old newspapers for wrapping too untidy and unhygienic,' he said.
Three-fourths of  people   said they carried their own shopping bag,  basket or cart to wet markets.
However, these alternatives had often not been fully used, as most of the respondents admitted that they still would put the food in plastic bags  before placing them in their baskets or carts.
As many as 86 per cent said educational campaigns should be strengthened to encourage people to use  fewer bags.



Shoppers admit they could halve their  use of plastic bags