Lesser packaging call to retailers amid online boom

The Consumer Council has found public awareness and engagement in sustainable consumption have improved over the past decade but that the government and retailers should step up their work to help Hong Kong achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. That emerged from a poll of around 1,000 shoppers the watchdog polled for its third sustainable consumption study, unveiled on Thursday, with key indices – "awareness and attitude" and "behaviour and readiness" – each rising by five points to 79 and 72, respectively, compared with the first study carried out in 2015. The council noted that the number of people engaged in online shopping has more than doubled from a decade ago, resulting in a significant increase in packaging waste and disposable items. Chief executive Alaina Shum called on shops to limit their use of packaging material. "For traders, reducing the unnecessary packaging may not only lower the packaging and the logistic costs but also reduce the packaging waste generation and resource consumption," she said. That, Shum said, would show they are responding to consumer demand for sustainable products and enhance their sustainability credentials. She pointed out some logistics firms that the watchdog's officials talked to have expressed a willingness to set up more collection points for...