Centre for Social Innovation Studies香港中文大學香港亞太研究所社會創新研究中心
Centre for Social Innovation Studies
Plastic Reduction Academy:
No Plastic Bags, Please!
2-28 November, 2023
Museum of Climate Change
Funded by Environmental and Conservation Fund
It takes hundreds of years for plastic bags to decompose while they fill up landfills and pollute the ocean, soil, and air. To tackle the problems, scientists are finding alternative materials to replace plastic and governments are implementing plastic bag levies. How can the fields of humanities and social sciences make intervention and promote plastic reduction? The Centre for Social Innovation Studies has been involved in plastic reduction initiatives since 2021. This year, we have launched the “Plastic Free Hong Kong: Plastic Reduction in Wet Market” Student Community Ambassador Training Scheme. We invited environmental education groups to share their insight on plastic reduction campaigns and existing loopholes in related policies. We also trained student ambassadors to conduct field visits at the Sha Tin wet market and guided them to have innovative thinking on plastic consumption.
In March and April 2023, our student ambassadors spent two days counting the number of plastic bags. Based on the findings, we estimated that around 500,000 plastic bags are consumed daily in government-owned wet markets in Hong Kong. The number is bigger if one includes private wet markets and supermarkets. Our ambassadors also conducted interviews to understand the social and cultural factors that drive the use of plastic bags. These students later participated in community art workshops to transform their observations into art pieces. They also presented their creative works as gifts to vendors and marketgoers.
During this one-year project, we discovered that plastic reduction must be implemented with the awareness of gender, class and age. While senior citizens have used sustainable packaging such as newspaper or plant stems in the past, they deem plastic bags modern and hygienic. Domestic helpers with busy schedules find plastic bags time-saving and convenient. Working families have been accustomed to plastic overpackaging in their lives. Vendors often wave plastic bags to attract customers. In short, the modern “values” of convenience overshadow plastic bag’s environmental costs. We also found that implementing charging schemes is not enough. It must go hand in hand with an effective recycling economy and persistent communication with different stakeholders. The exhibition aims to share our journey of such reflections.
We would like to express our gratitude to the vendors, stall owners, and staff members in the Sha Tin market. We also thank all participating teachers and our student ambassadors. Finally, thanks to all the community stakeholders and partner organizations for their dedication to promoting plastic reduction for Hong Kong and global sustainability.
PROJECT
SCHEDULE
February 2023
WildBound, a Beijing-based nature-education organization, held a two-day workshop that encouraged university students to understand the complexity of social issues, cultivate empathy, and familiarize with critical concepts such as impact gaps and baseline shifting.
Our trainees come from Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia, Japan, and Zimbabwe. They shared their own experiences and stories of their parents or grandparents, which enriched the global exposure of the participants.
The workshop also featured the director of Green Earth who shared how their campaigns against polluting transnational corporations calls for a corporate responsibility scheme for plastic bottles. The programme officer of Greenpeace also shared their innovative “Reusable Cup Borrowing Program” with local start-ups.
A fixed mindset often leads to over-simplification of problems and hinders behavioural changes. The workshop designed immersive games to help students understand the intricate network and mutual influence between people, objects, and happenings.
The facilitator showed a video of the researchers removing a plastic straw stuck in a turtle’s nose, which became a major driving force behind a global movement of banning plastic straws. Social media video sharing could trigger empathy with marine animals, encouraging responsive actions, and driving policy changes.
Shifting Baseline Syndrome depicts the gradual decrease in our capability to recognize environmental degradation due to a lack of knowledge or previous experience. The concept reminds us to shift our environmental awareness to enable possible actions, such as shifting our “baseline” to a few decades ago when plastic was rare so we can better cherish and reuse the resources. We can also learn eco-friendly packaging methods from previous generations.
Each generation believes that the environment where we grow up is natural. The post-00s generation, like me, has been living in smoggy days and stinky river water, in sharp contrast to our parents’ memories where there were blue skies and clouds and transparent water. Rapid industrial development and a lack of environmental regulation have led to the deterioration of nature and lowered our acceptable standards. Who knows if our posterity will deem another environment “normal”?
──University student Eric
Have you ever thought that toys can have great impacts on the environment? Hong Kong was once a production hub for plastic toys. Speaker from Green Earth shared that in 1992, a container ship carrying 28,880 plastic ducks encountered a storm and it was impossible to retrieve those plastic toys. Today, beach-cleaning volunteers still occasionally spot them on the seashore.
In the role-play activity, students take turns to play as interviewers and interviewees such as domestic workers and senior citizens, preparing for the upcoming field visits to the Sha Tin market.
We have designed a worksheet for the students to review their household usage of plastics. The worksheet also provided a guideline for students to identify the type of plastic packaging.
In this secondary school workshop, we not only talked about the harmful effects of plastic pollution and microplastics, but also included interactive sessions where students identify and classify plastic waste according to the Plastics Identification Flow Chart.
──University student Liz
Sha tin Plastic Reduction Field Study
@SHATINMARKET
According to the new policy, fresh produce falls under the exemption scope of the shopping bag levy scheme, allowing most stalls in the wet market to continue giving out single-use plastic bags. The project invited secondary school students to observe and count the consumption of plastic bags at the wet market. Through interviews, students also had an opportunity to listen to others and learn the perspectives of community stakeholders.
During the 12-hour counting, students were astonished by how excessive plastic bags were used. They noticed how the vegetable sellers would happily wave white plastic bags to attract customers. Students at the fish stall section gazed at each transaction, paying attention to every plastic bag handed out, and couldn’t help but think about the sellers’ hard work.
Having been used to doing groceries in supermarkets, several Master students from mainland China were amazed by the operational model of small vendors, which allows both buyers and sellers to engage in casual conversations. As the wet market fosters community relationships, it is germane to explore the message of plastic reduction that aligns with the fabric of the local community.
Shatin MarKet
The two-level indoor Sha Tin Market sits on Sha Tin Main Street, neighboring the New Town Plaza. The ground and upper floor accommodate 150 stalls.
Students stood at both ends of each aisle of the market, with tally counters and record sheets. They counted the quantity of plastic bags dispensed by vendors on either side and consolidated the totals to estimate the daily consumption. On top of this, another team was responsible for interviews. 69 interviews were conducted in total.
Fieldwork Findings
St. Rose of Lima’s College｜25 MARCH 2023
Fieldwork Findings
Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School｜22 April 2023
How many plastic bags are consumed daily in Hong Kong?
According to the two quantitative studies, the plastic bag usage at the Sha Tin Street Market amounted to 6,532 and 5,922 respectively in two days. Since Hong Kong has 76 wet markets overseen by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the daily consumption of plastic bags in Hong Kong’s government-owned market can be calculated as follows:
*The estimation does not account for plastic bag consumption in private wet markets, supermarkets, and other shops, nor does it include the plastic consumption associated with pre-package items.
Observation from our investigators
@Sha Tin Market
I remember a woman who approached the vendor and said she didn’t need a bag and placed the vegetables directly into her reusable bag. This is commendable as it reduces the consumption of plastic bags, especially since the usage is unnecessary for carrying fruits and vegetables.
── A student from St. Rose of Lima’s College
I observed the fish stall adjacent to a pork stall and counted around 50 plastic bags each hour! I was struck when the pork stall attendant packed the purchase of a lady who had brought her own container! Even though the customer avoided plastic bags, vendors still handed out bags out of habit. I believe that if more customers could bring their containers, stall vendors may be aware of that and use less plastic.
── A student from St. Rose of Lima’s College
One vegetable stall owner was very environmentally conscious. He mentioned that some food items are delivered with protective foam packaging. He suggested wholesalers should avoid using foam packaging, especially for produce less prone to bruises. This is more meaningful than charging $1 for plastic bags.
── A student from Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying
Memorial Secondary School
I observed that most customers used plastic bags, though some used trolleys and reusable bags to carry their food. It was still necessary to package raw meat in plastic bags before placing them into the trolleys.
── A student from Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying
Memorial Secondary School
I saw an uncle trying to find the best fit from a range of plastic bags of different sizes. A young Filipino domestic worker shared stories of plastic reuse in her hometown. A vegetable vendor would rather have less business than giving out more plastic bags for free. I realized that each of us has the courage to be a “weirdo.” I feel fortunate to know that my actions can reduce the amount of waste lingering on the earth.
I also had the opportunity to chat with a fruit stall owner who is about to retire. He mentioned that he has been selling fruits for decades, and it’s only in recent years that more people started using reusable bags. This makes me understand that although environmental awareness is not very high, we are slowly progressing.
── University student Carol
Community Art Workshop on Plastic Reduction
“Community Art Workshop on Plastic Reduction” aims to artistically showcase the students’ experiences, and reflections during their research. A selection of art pieces was gifted back to the wet market vendors and customers.
Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School
April 29th and 30th, 2023
Students’ sharing embodied both the candidness of youth and emerging maturity. Despite the implications of plastic pollution, they acknowledged the challenging reality of low fines and deeply ingrained habits. Students’ artworks then included themes including nuclear bombs, mythical creatures, deep-sea wonders, wet markets, and plastics…
St. Rose of Lima’s College
July 13th, 2023
Three workshops taught students on upcycling with handicrafts and making infographics. There were eco-friendly pin badges by reusing plastic bags through Japanese knotting technique, stylish shopping bags from rice wrapping bags, and eye-catching infographics made by recycled paper, fruit nets and plastic bags. These infographics display the calculations of plastic bag usage during field visits, as well as their reflections on the excessive plastic consumption.
Upon completion, the instructor joined the student ambassadors to present their crafts to the vendors and customers. We hope art is a bridge to start conversations on plastic reduction, promoting dialogues alongside the initiatives of NGOs and government policies.
infographics made by the students
Plastic Bag Badge
Reusable Shopping Bag
Landfills in Hong Kong are about to overflow. We need more innovative and practical solutions. In Take Back the Economy (2013), J.K. Gibson-Graham advocates utilizing the “surplus” of urban production and valuing emotional connections among individuals and communities towards better ways of living and place-based practices. The two workshops organized by CSIS align with Gibson-Graham’s innovative vision.
── University student Andy
Can plastic problems only be solved by new technology and materials?
The technological progress of the petrochemical industry during World War II led to the widespread use of inexpensive, flexible, and lightweight plastic materials. During the post-war global economic expansion, plastic manufacturing factories inundated the public with a wide range of everyday plastic products, integrating plastic extensively into modern life.
In 1959, Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin created the first polypropylene (PP) bag. The original intention behind was to reduce the environmental impact of paper bags, as they have lower durability and their production required tree logging. Plastic shopping bags also addressed some drawbacks of traditional materials. Their waterproofness, chemical stability, extensibility, lightweightness and low cost allow widespread uses.
However, plastic bags, especially single-use ones, have failed to fulfill their original reusing purpose but caused climate-fuelled crises. The commonly used polyethylene (PE) bags are non-biodegradable and require decades to fully degrade, depending on the thickness, needed humidity, and microbial activities. In reality, plastic bags have caused significant pollution in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
Ineffective Solutions
In response to the detriments of plastic bags, scientists have invented “biodegradable” bags, broadly categorized into oxidizable/light-degradable plastics and biodegradable plastics.
Oxidizable/light-degradable plastics weaken the bonds between polymers by including materials such as starch during manufacturing. Depending on the material, sunlight exposure, or the rate of oxidation, the bags would break down into fragments, accelerating the decomposition. However, decomposition of plastic bags gives rise to microplastics that are nearly impossible to clean up.
As for biodegradable plastics, the most common one is polylactic acid (PLA), which is usually made from starch such as corn or sugar cane. PLA is a material that can be converted into organic compost or decompose itself. Unfortunately, decomposition demands microbial metabolism, which cannot be achieved without proper recycling and food waste management systems.
The new materials undoubtedly overcome the shortcomings of the old ones, but it does not necessarily bring better results. If we assume that the “more environmentally friendly ” PLA can completely replace traditional plastic bags, sufficient starch of PLA must be obtained from monocropping. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate the consequences of genetically modified crops and its potential impact on biodiversity.
Is there a perfect material that can replace the traditional plastic bags without any harm? Instead of focusing on the material, it is imperative for us to reflect on the underlying cultural factors behind the plastic bag consumption. The call for plastic reduction is not only a matter of material revolution, but also a matter of our social habits, structural inequality, and policies.
Extended
Reading
#plastic
#consume
#develop
《廢品生活——垃圾場的經濟、社群與空間》
胡嘉明、張劼穎 著
香港中文大學出版社，2016
When we think about what to do with the huge amount of trash produced by modern consumer life in big cities, we often overlook the figure of the scavengers. Through in-depth fieldwork, this book presents the lesser-known world of Beijing’s rural and urban waste workers, and examines rubbish as a material that participates in socio-political relations, and how it is organically involved in China’s transformative social processes: class ruptures, policy barriers, rural-urban economic and cultural differences, rural worker mobility, and rural-urban divide, entangled in the process.
Plastic Capitalism:
Contemporary Art and the Drive to Waste
by Amanda Boetzkes
The MIT Press; Illustrated edition 2019
By analysing the visual representation of waste in contemporary artworks, the book reveals its relationship with the global fossil economy and the wave of ecological reflection. The author also points out that art should become a component of ecological awareness, not just an extension of it.
Pollution Is Colonialism
By Max Liboiron
Duke University Press 2021
Using plastic pollution as an entry point, this book illustrates pollution as a colonial relationship to the violent occupation of Aboriginal lands through the author’s work at the Civic Environmental Action Research Laboratory (CLEAR) in Newfoundland, Canada, and maps out what constitutes a model of anti-colonialist scientific practice.
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet:
Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene
by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Nils Bubandt, Elaine Gan, Heather Anne Swanson (Editors)
On this scarred planet, human-induced environmental changes threaten the survival of different species. This collection of essays by scholars in ethnography, ecology, scientific research, art, literature, and bioinformatics provides a critical and creative guide to the ‘art of survival’ in our collaborative efforts to survive in this ‘more-than-human’ Anthropocene.
Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto
by Kohei Saito
Astra House 2024
The author makes a radical critique of ‘sustainable growth’ and ‘green new deal’, pointing out that they are nothing but dangerous compromises. This is because capitalism constantly creates artificial ‘deprivation’, chasing product value over utility value, and prioritising sustainable growth over everything else. Reversing climate change is impossible in a capitalist society because the systems that create the problems cannot be part of the solution. Therefore, the author advocates ‘de-growth’ and ‘deceleration’ of society as the fundamental solution to the problem, whereby economic activity is slowed down through democratic reforms of labour and production in order to effectively reverse climate change and save the planet.
《減塑生活：與塑膠和平分手，為海洋生物找回無塑藍海》
How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time
威爾．麥卡拉姆 著
臺灣商務，2019
‘Living with Plastic Reduction’ is an easy-to-understand guide to everyday plastic reduction and how people can begin to end their dependence on plastic products in their homes, communities and workplaces. The authors, who are at the forefront of the anti-plasticisation movement, show you how small changes in your life can make a big difference to the world: simple actions such as buying a reusable coffee cup or taking the initiative to clean up a park or beach near your home can easily change the whole environment in which we live.
Ka-ming Wu. 2023. “Sipping tea, plastics performing: representational and materialist politics of boba tea consumption in contemporary China.” International Journal of Asian Studies (2023), 1–13.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479591422000328
While research on plastic waste usually focuses on its life cycle after it becomes ‘waste’, this article focuses on the cultural experience of plastic consumption in terms of its image and texture before it becomes ‘waste’. Taking the phenomenon of boba tea consumption as a starting point and the theory of New Materialism as a tool for cultural analysis, the article points out that the role of plastics in the contemporary food and beverage consumption industry is not only a physical container, but also the plasticity of plastics makes it visually appealing in a variety of ways, bringing various kinds of imaginative space for consumers and fulfilling people’s desires to present their life tastes in the social media all the time.
Chinese