Situation of two months after adaptation period of regulation on disposable plastic products
​The six-month adaptation period of the new regulation on disposable plastic products has been concluded for two months since October 21 this year. The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) will continue to promote going "plastic-and-disposable-free" and follow up incompliant cases, to join hands with different sectors of the community to promote green and low-carbon living culture in Hong Kong.
A spokesman for the EPD said today (December 23) that since the implementation of the new regulation, the trade has generally complied with the law and adapted to the new regulatory requirements by making corresponding changes in their businesses. Over the past two months, the EPD has continued its publicity and educational efforts, followed up on complaints and handled the small number of cases that are still incompliant.
To date, the EPD has received 62 relevant complaints and reportings about non-compliance, all of which have been investigated, and 33 of them were still incompliant and had not taken specific actions to rectify after rounds of promotion and education. The EPD has issued written warnings requiring the persons-in-charge to make improvements within 10 working days; otherwise, a fixed penalty notice will be issued. The EPD has followed up 15 cases which written warnings had been issued more than 10 working days and two catering premises were still found persistently incompliant, and the EPD staff have issued fixed penalty notices of $2,000 each to the persons-in-charge. The EPD will follow up other cases again timely.
The spokesman reiterated, "Having reviewed the data in these two months after the adaptation period, most of the non-compliance had been rectified within a short period of time, and only two cases with repeated non-compliance records required the issuance of fixed penalty notices at present. The EPD reminds the trade once again that the adaptation period has concluded for two months. The EPD will on one hand continue our publicity and educational efforts, and on the other hand seriously follow up on incompliant cases with a view to working with the trade and the public to further promote the 'plastic-and-disposable-free' culture in the society."