Prior to the launch of the recent “Every Day No Plastic Bag” campaign, Hong Kong had done a relatively successful job creating awareness of the city wide campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags. Although some shoppers complained they were not aware of the new practice and said there should be a longer transitional period to ease shoppers into the habit of carrying their own shopping bags, I think the public was given more than enough time to get used to the fact that many retailers would soon be holding out on giving away plastic bags. I mean, if shoppers were given a 5 year transition period in which the city made a consistent effort to encourage consumers to use less plastic bags, people would still claim they were unaware of the campaign and these people would most likely be the shoppers who use plastic bags carelessly and who are too ignorant to notice the posters and cloth bags hanging for sale at every checkout counter they pass.

When I was in one of the Wellcome supermarkets this past weekend I noticed a large banner hanging above the store exit reading “Love Hong Kong. Use Less Plastic Bags”. Strategically placed so that you can’t miss it while you wait in line to pay for your groceries, the banner prompted me to once again wondered how shoppers could even pretend not to have been aware of the city’s no plastic bag campaign, which has been in effect ever since I arrived in Hong Kong nearly 7 months ago. Even if they were too distracted to notice the posters, banners, and cloth bags all around them, they surly would have heard the cashier ask them if they needed a plastic bag because that question almost always follows the customary greeting a cashier gives a customer.

What began as a weekly campaign has now turned into a daily effort among retailers and grocers of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association to decrease the number of plastic bags given to consumers. On March 3, about 2,000 retail stores in Hong Kong joined together in a campaign to keep Hong Kong green by encouraging customers to use less plastic bags and bring their own bags. When I read about the campaign, many news articles said stores would “ban” plastic bags or would not give bags to customers unless they were requested, but I was curious as to how consistent these stores would be in enforcing these new practices, so of course I had to see for myself and made it my weekend mission to go shopping and do a little investigating. Over the weekend I visited about 3 major grocery stores and overall I was quite satisfied with what I saw. Some stores had their stash of plastic bags completely out of view while others still had them on top of the checkout counter but only gave them out after asking the customer if they needed one. I witnessed a couple shoppers whip out their own bags and smiled when I saw another customer decline a bag for her 2 item purchase. So far so good Hong Kong!

In terms of clothing stores, I have yet to do a detailed investigation of their bag practices since the launch of the “Every Day No Plastic Bag” campaign, but rest assured it won’t be long until I have a report for you!