Food for thought over lunch boxes

Green groups have called on Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to announce aggressive environment friendly measures in his 15 October policy address (施政報告) including a ban on the use of disposable lunch boxes in schools.

In letters addressed to the chief executive, they also urged a speeding up of the plastic-bag tax and its extension to include most stores and for the government to push the coal-fired power plants to adopt available technology that will limit fine particulate matter in the air.

"After more than seven years of campaigning, there has not been much improvement by the government over school lunch boxes," Greener Action project officer Ying Ying-kwok said yesterday.

Although cooperation between the Environment and Education bureaus has reduced the number of primary schools using disposable lunch boxes from 75 percent in 2004 to 42 percent in 2006, the green group has found the voluntary program to be insufficient.

In calling for legislation to ban the use of non-reusable containers in schools, the group said 95 percent of the 1,177 primary schools it surveyed supported the use of canteen services with washable containers and utensils.

According to Greener Action, another issue where the government was dragging its feet was a timetable over the first producer responsibility scheme involving a plastic bag levy. It also called for deadlines to be set for the second phase which will expand the levy to book, stationary, cosmetic and other stores.

The green group would also like to see a voluntary mechanism for other stores to join along with the inclusion of recycling bins on the streets to replace the existing rubbish bins.

Timothy Chui
The Standard, 6 October 2008

 

(Assignment: Please analyze the first two paragraphs.)