The Government announced that the three pieces of subsidiary legislation for enhancing the Plastic Shopping Bag Charging Scheme were passed by the Legislative Council today. The enhanced scheme will be implemented on December 31.

The three pieces of subsidiary legislation amend the Product Eco-responsibility Ordinance and the Product Eco-responsibility (Plastic Shopping Bags) Regulation.

The enhancements include increasing the charging level per plastic shopping bag from the current level of at least 50 cents to at least $1, removing the present exemption for plastic shopping bags carrying frozen or chilled foodstuff items; and tightening the scope of exemption.

Tightening the scope of exemption is such that free plastic shopping bags can only be provided when purchasing foodstuff items without packaging or not wholly contained in any packaging, or food and beverage takeaway items in non-airtight packaging, subject to the basic principle of one free plastic shopping bag per single transaction.

The Government will promote the scheme's enhancements to the trade and the public and prepare a best practice guideline for the trade to understand the relevant requirements.