HK environmental group: Plastic shopping bag charge should be increased

Greeners Action has called on authorities to increase a levy on plastic bags to HK$2 (nine baht). (South China Morning Post photo)

HONG KONG: A charge on plastic shopping bags should be increased to at least HK$2 (nine baht), a Hong Kong environmental group has said, pointing to its survey that estimates supermarkets hand out more than 170 million of such items each year.

The call came ahead of a Legislative Council meeting on Tuesday in which members will discuss a proposal to raise the levy to HK$1. The city introduced the charging scheme, which requires retailers to collect 50 cents from consumers for each plastic bag they use, 13 years ago.