“Together with the well above normal temperatures in December 2025 and warmer than usual weather in January 2026, Hong Kong experienced the warmest winter on record from December 2025 to February 2026,” the Hong Kong Observatory said on Tuesday.

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Hong Kong has just experienced its warmest winter on record, the city’s observatory has confirmed.

February, which saw “unseasonably warm” weather and mean temperatures 3C above the normal, marked the end of the city’s hottest winter since records began in 1884.

Hong Kong Observatory data published Wednesday shows that the mean temperature between December and February reached 19.3C, a whole 2.0C above the normal. The mean maximum temperature of 21.9C was the highest on record for that period, while the minimum temperature of 17.3C was the second-highest on record. Only five cold days – defined as days with a minimum temperature of 12C or below – were recorded, the third lowest on record.

“Together with the well above normal temperatures in December 2025 and warmer than usual weather in January 2026, Hong Kong experienced the warmest winter on record,” the Observatory said on Tuesday.

Temperatures have been rising in Hong Kong in line with global trends. In 2025, the city’s sixth hottest year on record, all 12 months were warmer than usual. Hong Kong also saw a total of 20 record-breaking weather and temperature events. These included the highest absolute maximum temperature for June (35.6C), the highest total daily rainfall for August (398.9 mm), and the highest monthly mean temperature for October (25.6C).

Overall, 2025 was the year with the lowest mean relative humidity, on par with 1963. A study last year warned that climate change is making once-wet cities like Hong Kong exponentially drier, as it throws the water cycle “out of balance.”

Featured image: Kyle Lam/hongkongfp.com

All 12 months of 2025 saw temperatures higher than usual in Hong Kong, the city’s observatory has said.

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Hong Kong broke several weather and temperature records in 2025, the city’s sixth warmest year since record-keeping began in 1884.

All 12 months were warmer than usual, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) said last week. The annual mean temperature was 24.3C, 0.8C above the 1991-2020 average. The annual maximum temperature stood at 27.1C and the annual minimum temperature at 22.4C – one of the fifth and one of the sixth highest since 1884, respectively.

Hong Kong also saw a total of 20 record-breaking weather and temperature events. These included the highest absolute maximum temperature for June (35.6C), the highest total daily rainfall for August (398.9 mm), and the highest monthly mean temperature for October (25.6C).

Several record humidity measurements were also part of the list, including the lowest absolute minimum relative humidity for April (21%), the lowest seasonal mean relative humidity for spring (75%), and the absolute minimum relative humidity for November (16%).

Overall, 2025 was the year with the lowest mean relative humidity, on par with 1963. A study last year warned that climate change is making once-wet cities like Hong Kong exponentially drier, as it throws the water cycle “out of balance.”

Last year, the city’s hottest since since at least 1884, 35 temperature records were broken.

Hotter Days, Hotter Nights

“There were 53 very hot days, 54 hot nights in Hong Kong in 2025, both ranking third highest on record,” the Observatory also said.

For people living in places like Hong Kong, summer heat is nothing new. In the city, temperatures soar above 30C (86F) for most part of the year, which feel even higher when coupled with high humidity levels. Yet, heat-related illnesses here are on the rise.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and published last year found that heatwaves in the city over the past decade, 18 in total, may have contributed to 1,677 excess deaths.

High nighttime temperatures are detrimental to human health, as they prevent the body from recovering from daytime heat. This not only disrupts sleep, which can negatively affect physical and mental health, cognitive function, and life expectancy, but it also increases the risk of illness and mortality.

A 2020 study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) found that five consecutive “hot nights”, defined as when temperatures rise above 28C (82F), would raise the risk of death by 6.66%.

With climate change, nights are not just getting warmer; they are also heating up faster than days in many parts of the world. According to a Climate Central analysis published last year, between 2014 and 2023, 2.4 billion people experienced an average of at least two additional weeks per year where nighttime temperatures exceeded 25C.

The impact of nighttime heat is uneven. Around 220,000 people live in 110,000 subdivided flats – tiny, crowded, often windowless spaces. Here, indoor temperatures at night can feel like 44C, according to a local NGO. 

More on the topic: ‘I Can’t Sleep’: Hong Kong’s Rising Nighttime Heat Exposes Inequalities

Record-Breaking Number of Typhoons

An unprecedented number of tropical cyclones, better known as typhoons in the Pacific, affected Hong Kong in 2025. “14 tropical cyclones necessitated the issuance of tropical cyclone warning signals, more than double of the long-term average of about six in a year, the highest annual number since 1946,” HKO said.

Among them were Typhoon Wipha in July and Super Typhoon Ragasa in September, both of which triggered the Hurricane Signal No. 10 in the city, the highest warning signal in Hong Kong. At the time it hit, Ragasa was the year’s strongest tropical cyclone globally, with highest winds of 270 km/h (165 mph). A subsequent study by ClimaMeter concluded that present-day atmospheric conditions resembling Ragasa are now wetter and warmer, favoring the kind of heavy rains, storm surges, and associated floods that devastated Luzon, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Guangdong.

While tropical cyclones are a rather common weather phenomenon, there has been a significant increase in their intensity in recent decades that scientists attribute to warmer oceans. Ragasa and the 34 other tropical cyclones that occurred in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in 2025 were fueled by higher-than-normal sea surface temperatures, HKO said.

Featured image: Kyle Lam/hongkongfp.com.

More on the topic: Warmer Climate Made Super Typhoon Ragasa 36% More Destructive in Southern China, Study Finds

Hong Kong is waging a war on single-use plastics – from local cafes to five-star hotels – as the city tries to curb waste piling up each day in its landfills and seas. Residents dump around 2,000 tonnes of plastic a day, with barely 17% recycled.  

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Additional reporting by Daisy Wu, Felice Liang, Molly Liu, Yannie Huang 

On a summer afternoon in Causeway Bay, retiree Jiahua Wong sat in Milk Café swirling her iced lemon tea until the paper straw collapsed, making it impossible to stir or sip. Like millions in Hong Kong, she is adjusting to the city’s new ban on single-use plastics.  

“Paper alternatives are a good idea in general,” 73-year-old Wong told Earth.Org. “But when you’re drinking, the paper straws get soggy too fast. It ruins the experience.” 

Since April 2024, restaurants, retailers and hotels have been barred from handing out plastic tableware such as straws, stirrers and cutlery. The move targets growing waste in a city of 7.5 million people, where residents dine out or buy takeaway meals several times a week, a survey showed.  

In 2019 alone, each resident threw away 1,940 pieces of plastic cutlery, contributing to a daily dump of around 2,000 tons of plastic waste – roughly the weight of six jumbo jets. Barely 17% is recycled, leaving most plastic to languish in landfills for hundreds of years or break into microplastics in the city’s coastal waters.  

A Big Shift in a Takeaway City 

Hong Kong is now trying to catch up with its Asian neighbors. Taiwan began phasing out disposables in 2002 and plans a full ban by 2030. South Korea banned plastic and paper cups in 2018, with a decade-long roadmap to reduce waste. Both have enforced waste charging, regulated packaging and pushed reusables for years – measures Hong Kong is still only discussing. 

The catering sector worried about higher costs and a drop in business from a ban, said Simon Wong, President of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurant and Related Trades.  “But people have got used to it,” said Wong. “Since the ban, restaurant operators use less plastic, save costs and even some customers bring their own food containers.”  

Hong Kong-style cafés like cha chaan tengs, chain stores and snack shops have switched en masse to compostable or “sustainable” single-use alternatives. Officials said in April that caterers cut disposable cutlery use by 30 million sets, and estimated the ban could reduce twice that amount every year. Meanwhile, hotels slashed single-use plastics like water bottles and toiletries by over 80%. Major chains said that 80% of customers refused takeaway cutlery and nearly a third of outlets have stopped offering them. 

Yet there are holdouts. By April, inspectors had visited 48,000 premises and issued 144 warnings. Twenty-one were “persistently incompliant” and fined. Retiree Wong said some “might be too busy to hear you and ignore your request, still putting utensils in the bag.” She brings them home and reuses them.  

For small restaurant owners, compliance comes at a price. At Ho Lo Kee, a Chinese eatery in Shek Tong Tsui, 38-year-old owner Leo Ho has watched costs rise by HK$2 to HK$3 per meal set after switching to alternatives like paper, bamboo and plant fiber – a sign that the cost is passed on to customers. 

The switch also tests patience: paper bowls leak hot soup, paper straws collapse and wooden cutlery splinters. “Paper straws get mushy and taste like paper,” said 14-year-old student Morgan Choi. 

Gary Zhou, an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong, likes eating porridge and soupy noodles but says the alternatives for hot and liquid foods aren’t convenient. “I often find that the sauce has seeped out by the time I get home, which leads to food waste,” he told Earth.Org.  

To help, the government has set up a green tableware platform where suppliers have risen from 60 to 196, offering thousands of alternative products. But the marketplace is still settling. “Some eco-friendly alternatives just aren’t up to standard yet,” shop owner Ho said. 

The Case For Reuse 

Swapping one kind of single-use disposable for another misses the point, said Greenpeace Campaigner Leanne Tam. Recycling small items like straws is difficult and most single-use plastic alternatives cannot be recycled in Hong Kong. “Recycling is outdated,” she said.  

Instead, Tam is urging the government to invest in reusables and centralized cleaning systems, and to offer subsidies for small businesses to move away from disposables. Greenpeace’s “Borrow and Return Cup” program, launched three years ago, lets customers borrow reusable cups for dine-in or takeaway – an idea Tam says could scale citywide. 

Similarly, Muuse, a Hong Kong company that partners with malls like Cityplaza and Taikoo Place, claims it has saved over 140,000 single-use cups and avoided 18,000 kilograms of carbon emissions through its reuse system. Customers borrow cups at cafes and return them for professional cleaning.  

Reuse is not mandated or common in Hong Kong, but some people are already making the shift. Wong’s son brings his own tableware to work. At Ming Beef Noodle Shop, more customers bring their own steel stainless straws, “which helps save resources,” according to staffer Kelly Gong.  

Simon Wong agrees that reusables are a good idea. “We don’t want to put all the waste to landfill, it’s a waste of land and costly for the environment,” he said, adding the city needs to move closer to its 2050 carbon neutral goals.  

Authorities say reusables are key and since 2019 have told restaurants on its premises not to give disposables to dine-in customers. The government has also launched a free reusable program for big events, started a bring-your-own container scheme at 470 eateries and a food container rental scheme on Hong Kong island, and created an app that rewards people who skip plastic takeaway items.  

Still, cost remains a hurdle. Cleaning each cup can cost up to $4, said Natasha Chawla, Hong Kong Director of Muuse. Ensuring proper hygiene is a challenge for some organizations Earth.Org spoke to exploring reusables. “Unless it scales, it will stay expensive. And until it stays expensive, nobody wants to do it,” said Chawla. “The government has to step up, provide warehouses, washing facilities and just enable it.”  

Looking Out For the Next Phase 

The next phase of the ban, targeting plastic takeaways cups and boxes, was slated for this year but has yet to materialize. Officials have not given a timeline, though the 2025 Policy Address promised a review of alternatives and better designs to reach the city’s “zero landfill” goal. The government said it would partner with chain restaurants to test and review alternatives in 2025.  

Timing matters, Wong said, because the community needs to learn why plastics are harmful, businesses need cheaper and better alternatives, and the government must “offer more incentives for the trade and end user.” Chawla agrees, adding that tax rebates and government adoption of reusables in offices would help.   

Meanwhile, environmental groups want clarity. Greenpeace’s Tam is urging authorities to set a clear timeline so businesses and consumers can “get ready”, and to invest in green products and industries, especially reusables. Major venues like the new Kai Tak Sports Park could trial reusable cups, a move Tam says could encourage chain stores and other large venues to follow.     

Elsewhere, incentives work. In Canada, where Muuse also operates, a waste charging scheme makes reuse cost-effective for events and businesses. “If the government’s not able to take the stick route, how about carrots? How about recognizing the companies that are doing the right thing?” said Chawla.  

Business owners say they need practical alternatives for the second stage. “This isn’t just about one store – it applies to all of Hong Kong,” said shop owner Ho. “If the government says we can’t use something, they need to give us a solution.” 

Featured image: Martina Igini/Earth.Org.

Tackling ozone pollution in Hong Kong requires strengthening controls on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and regional collaboration.

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There are two types of ozone (O3) in the atmosphere: stratospheric ozone and tropospheric ozone. While stratospheric ozone exists naturally in the upper atmosphere and protects Earth’s life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation, tropospheric ozone is a secondary pollutant formed by photochemical reactions between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight at ground level. 

This ground-level ozone pollution has become a rising concern in Hong Kong. Currently, tropospheric ozone is one of the seven major air pollutants regulated under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance and the Air Quality Objectives, which establish legally binding concentration limits and the number of allowed exceedances.

According to the 2023 Hong Kong Emission Inventory Report, the emission sources of ozone precursors are diversified. The majority of NOx emissions came from combustion processes, such as navigation, electricity generation, and road transport. In contrast, most VOC emissions stemmed from non-combustion sources, including paints, consumer products, adhesives, and sealants.

Why Should We Care?

The tropospheric ozone, a powerful oxidant, can cause adverse effects on human health. Acute exposure may trigger respiratory symptoms such as coughing, throat irritation, and chest pain, while long-term exposure can lead to increased mortality risk from health issues like cardiovascular and ischemic heart diseases.

Ozone can also damage vegetation. When it enters plants, it can reduce photosynthesis rates and slow plant growth. As a result, plants become more vulnerable to diseases, pests, and extreme weather, increasing the risk of death.

More on the topic: How Ozone Pollution Is Destroying Plants

In addition to being an air pollutant, tropospheric ozone is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. A long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns results in climate change.

Trends and Patterns

General Trends

Ozone concentrations in Hong Kong have shown an increasing trend since the early 1990s. In 2024, the concentration slightly dropped to 54.6 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) after reaching a historical high of 61 µg/m3 in 2023. However, concentrations remain dangerously high.

Under Hong Kong’s Air Quality Objectives, the daily maximum eight-hour average concentration must not exceed 160 µg/m3 more than nine times per year. In the past five years, all three roadside monitoring stations have complied with this standard. However, multiple general monitoring stations fail to achieve this each year, according to air quality reports.

Diurnal Patterns

Each day, ozone concentration rises in the morning, peaks in the afternoon, and declines in the evening, showing a diurnal pattern.

Around 6 a.m., transportation and industrial activities start to increase, leading to a sharp rise in NOx emissions, especially during the morning rush. At the same time, the sun begins to rise, providing the ultraviolet radiation needed for driving the photochemical reactions. As a result, the ozone concentration starts increasing in the morning. 

The concentrations peak around 2 pm and 3 pm, driven by rapid photochemical reactions under abundant sunlight and elevated levels of NOx and VOCs.

In the evening, the sun begins to set, shutting down photochemical reactions. Therefore, the ozone level decreases rapidly, despite increased NOx emissions during the evening rush.

Seasonal Patterns

Ozone levels in Hong Kong also show a seasonal pattern, with the highest concentrations in autumn and the lowest in summer.

Summer weather conditions do not favor ozone formation. Indeed, frequent rainfall helps wash it out, and the south-westerly monsoon brings cleaner oceanic air to Hong Kong. Therefore, the highest concentration occurs in autumn, when solar radiation is still strong, rainfall is less frequent, and the wind direction changes.

Control Policies

The government has been promoting green transport and clean energy to reduce NOx emissions. Interventions included phasing out aged commercial diesel vehicles, promoting electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles, tightening emission caps for power plants, and targeting the replacement of existing coal-fired generating units with natural gas-fired units and renewable energy sources in the 2030s, according to Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2050 and the Clean Air Plan. 

The government has also been regulating VOC-containing products under the Air Pollution Control (Volatile Organic Compounds) Regulation since 2007. The regulation sets limits on the VOC content of 172 types of products, including architectural paints, vehicle refinishing paints, and printing inks. No person is allowed to import or manufacture the regulated product in Hong Kong if it exceeds the legal limit.

Hong Kong is also working with the neighboring Guangdong government in mainland China to improve regional air quality. In 2014, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao PRD Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network was established to provide real-time air quality data to governments for identifying pollution problems in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and formulating appropriate control strategies.

A Complex Problem

The above government’s control policies effectively reduced both NOx and VOC emissions. Unfortunately, the same trend is not observed in ozone levels. 

“Ozone is a complicated air pollution issue as well as a regional issue,” an Environmental Protection Department spokesman said in 2020.

Non-Linear Dependency

The relationships between ozone and its precursors (NOx and VOCs) are nonlinear. 

Research has shown that Hong Kong has consistently been a primarily VOC-limited region for the past two decades. This means that reducing VOC emissions lowers ozone concentrations, whereas reducing NOx emissions increases them. Therefore, researchers recommended that Hong Kong should implement stricter VOC control strategies to counteract the effects of NOx reduction measures in the Greater Bay Area.

“In terms of the VOCs control strategies, synchronous reduction of carbonyl compounds and reactive aromatics will be the most effective way to mitigate O3 pollution in Hong Kong,” the research proposed.

Regional Transport

Among the 15 general monitoring stations, Tap Mun station has consistently recorded the most severe pollution. In 2024, the station had an annual average concentration of 76.8 µg/m³ and failed to meet the Air Quality Objective by 34 times. 

“Tap Mun station, which is away from urban emission sources, had the highest ozone concentration among the stations, reflecting that ozone pollution was mainly a regional problem,” according to local green group Clean Air Network. 

Research has shown that a significant fraction of ozone in Hong Kong is attributable to regional transport. Researchers evaluated the contributions of locally produced and regionally transported ozone from 2011 to 2022. During this period, the average daily maximum 8-hour ozone concentration in Hong Kong was 69.1 ppb, of which 71% was from regional transport, and 29% was from local production.

What’s more, the same research also found an unusual nighttime ozone rise in Hong Kong. Researchers analyzed nighttime ozone concentrations from 2011 to 2022 and found that concentrations in new towns and urban areas increased from 1 am to 4 am in the absence of photochemical reactions. After conducting air rose analyses, they found that the phenomenon is caused by the regional transport of ozone-rich air masses by easterly and northeasterly winds.

“Further pollution control collaborations between Hong Kong and the adjacent PRD region are necessary to address the O3 pollution in the Greater Bay Area,” the researchers suggested.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons.

As climate change intensifies, southern China can expect stronger and wetter typhoons in the future, researchers at Imperial College London said.

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Even small shifts in the intensity of a weather event can lead to massive increases in economic losses, a new study has warned after finding that climate change caused about 36% of Super Typhoon Ragasa’s direct damage to homes and properties in southern China.

Super Typhoon Ragasa, which at its peak was comparable to a Category 5 hurricane, battered the northern Philippines and Taiwan on September 22, claiming at least 25 lives. It then moved towards Hong Kong and southern China, bringing torrential rains, destructive winds and widespread flooding.

The rapid impact attribution study by Imperial College London showed that climate change, which is primarily the result of fossil fuel burning, boosted Ragasa’s peak wind speeds at landfall in southern China by 7% (approximately 13 km/h or 8 mph). Similar wind speeds would occur about once every 13 years without climate change. But in the current climate, which is 1.3C warmer than pre-industrial times, they are expected once every eight years.

Similarly, climate change made the rainfall from the typhoon’s eyewall 13% heavier. This increase in rainfall means that extreme events, which historically occurred about once every seven years in the region, are now expected every five years.

“In a world without climate change, a weaker typhoon would have been about 36% less damaging. This means climate change was behind more than a third of the economic damages from Typhoon Ragasa in China,” according to the study.

Total economic losses across Southeast Asia and China are not yet known, but estimates put them in the hundreds of millions of USD. Insured losses could potentially exceed tens of millions.

To study Ragasa, the research team used the Imperial College Storm Model (IRIS), a climate model used to determine how much human-caused climate change has intensified specific extreme weather events, such as a typhoon’s rainfall. It does so by comparing current atmospheric conditions to a simulated pre-industrial scenario.

“This study highlights the simple cost benefit of reducing emissions now, not sometime in the future as governments are having to reach deeper into their pockets to respond to extreme weather intensified by climate change,” said Emily Theokritoff of the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London.

“The longer it takes to shift away from fossil fuels, the more intense and costly extreme weather events will become.”

Wetter and More Intense Storms

Tropical cyclones – commonly known as typhoons in the northwestern Pacific and hurricanes if they originate in the Atlantic or northeastern Pacific Ocean – are a rather common weather phenomenon. However, there has been a significant increase in their intensity in recent decades. Scientific observations link this to rising ocean temperatures.

“China appears to have prepared well for Ragasa,” said Ralf Toumi, Director of the Grantham Institute. But, he added, “as the climate warms, we can expect more typhoons to reach Categories 4 and 5. Storms of this strength risk massive damage, even with major preparations.”

In particular, the study warned that in a 2C warmer world, a Ragasa-like typhoon would cause 24% more damage. This is because once the storm reaches a certain threshold, structures and trees fail, creating a domino effect of destruction from flying debris. This causes costs to escalate rapidly, Toumi explained.

According to the UN, the world is headed for 2.6-3.1C of warming over the course of this century.

The study reinforces findings from research published last week. It concluded that tropical cyclones similar to Super Typhoon Ragasa are locally up to 10 mm/day – about 10% – wetter, around 1C warmer, and roughly 4% windier in today’s climate compared to the past. The same study also found that the heavy rains, storm surges, and widespread floods associated with Ragasa were intensified by climate change.

Featured image: NASA Johnson/Flickr.

Researchers at ClimaMeter concluded that Super Typhoons similar to Ragasa are around 1C warmer, up to 10% wetter, and slightly windier in present-day climate compared to the past.

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Super Typhoon Ragasa, the strongest storm of the year so far, was intensified by human-made climate change, a new study has concluded.

Super Typhoon Ragasa, which at its peak was comparable to a Category 5 hurricane, battered the northern Philippines and Taiwan on Monday, claiming at least 25 lives. It then moved towards Hong Kong and southern China, bringing torrential rains, destructive winds and widespread flooding.

Carried out by ClimaMeter, the study compared weather patterns in the past (1950–1986) and present-day climate (1987–2023). It concluded that present-day atmospheric conditions resembling Ragasa are now wetter and warmer, favoring the kind of heavy rains, storm surges, and widespread floods that devastated Luzon, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Guangdong.

Specifically, researchers found that cyclones similar to Super Typhoon Ragasa today are locally up to 10 mm/day – about 10% – wetter, around 1C warmer, and roughly 4% windier compared to the past.

While natural climate variability may have played a “modest” role, “the long-term changes in pressure, precipitation, and temperature strongly suggest that the event’s severity is largely consistent with human-driven climate change,” the study said.

“The devastating impacts of Ragasa show that greenhouse gas emissions do far more than warm the world — they make typhoons wetter, stronger, and more violent,” said Davide Faranda from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). 

“Some may try to dismiss this, but the science is clear. If emissions aren’t rapidly cut, countries like the Philippines, Taiwan, and China will face storms more destructive than anything ever seen before,” he added.

Warmer-Than-Usual Waters

While tropical cyclones are a rather common weather phenomenon, there has been a significant increase in their intensity in recent decades, which scientific observations link to human-made climate change. These abnormal trends are attributed largely to rising ocean temperatures.

As shown in Climate Central’s Ocean Warming index, Ragasa rapidly intensified into a Super Typhoon atop sea surface temperatures that were 0.7-1.1C above average and whose “exceptional” warmth for the period was made 10 to 40 times more likely by human-caused climate change. ⁠

Since the 1970s, the proportion of Category 4 and 5 storms in the western North Pacific as well as the associated rainfall have increased. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most authoritative scientific body on climate change, tropical Super Typhoons in the region are expected to become more intense under climate change, although their frequency might not change.

Featured image: SSEC/CIMSS, University of Wisconsin–Madison⁠.

More on the topic: What Are Tropical Cyclones? Understanding Hurricanes and Typhoons and Their Link to Climate Change

The once-rich biodiversity of Hong Kong is threatened by habitat loss, climate change, and urban development. Now, scientists predict a future where nearly 30% of species – including the Chinese white dolphin and the black-faced spoonbill – will have no place to forage or rest.

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Despite its compact size, Hong Kong encompasses a remarkably diverse range of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, due to the impact of global warming and the urbanization of Hong Kong, the habitats of living creatures have been damaged, either becoming extinct or on the verge of extinction. 

Biodiversity Loss

According to The State of Hong Kong Biodiversity 2025 report, compiled by WWF Hong Kong, the city’s biodiversity is dwindling at a significant rate. Conservationists assessed 886 of 1,197 species in Hong Kong, finding that 21 have already become extinct, and 26% – more than one in four – are at risk of local extinction.

The assessment included eight major animal groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, freshwater fish, butterflies, dragonflies, and freshwater crustaceans. Among them, birds and freshwater fish are the most threatened, with 50% of visiting bird populations (116 species) and 46% of freshwater fishes (28 species) at moderate to high risk of extinction. Breeding bird populations and mammals follow, with 29% and 22% of species threatened, respectively.

Among locally extinct species are the black-headed ibis, once a regular winter visitor in Hong Kong and last recorded in the city in 1999, and the ayu sweetfish, last recorded in 1993 in Tai Ho on Lantau island. Meanwhile, the globally endangered black-faced spoonbill is at high risk of local extinction, with the proportion of Deep Bay in the global population reaching 5.4% in 2024, the second-lowest level ever recorded. 

Other than birds and fish, many medium to large non-volant mammals have also gone  extinct in Hong Kong, with one in every four species—including the tiger, leopard, and red fox—extirpated following centuries of deforestation and hunting. A further 22% of species (4 species), including the Eurasian otter and the Chinese pangolin, are at high risk.

Furthermore, 14% of dragonflies face extinction, with 4% already locally extinct; 22% of shrimp and prawns are at risk due to the aquarium trade. About 21% of amphibians face extinction, with the Chinese Floating Frog already locally extinct. 20% of reptiles are threatened, including all six native turtles, such as the Chinese Three-banded Box Turtle, half of which are at high risk from poaching. As of butterflies, 6% are threatened, with two species – Castalius rosimon and Flos asoka – locally extinct.

Habitat Loss

Based on the Hong Kong Terrestrial Biodiversity Hotspot Map 2025, published alongside the biodiversity report, Hong Kong’s 27 biodiversity hotspots outside of protected areas are home to some 95% of the city’s at-risk species. According to WWF, these hotspots, which cover just 6% of the territory’s land, should be designated as “no-go” areas where no large-scale development is permitted. 

Alarmingly, nearly 80% of these vital areas have suffered environmental damage, and almost half coincide with the government’s planned or committed development projects, like the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in 2018 and the San Tin Technopole project, part of the government’s broader Northern Metropolis development plan.

​​According to Greenpeace, 78.7 hectares of protected wetland in Hong Kong’s New Territories have been lost since the government announced the Northern Metropolis development plan more than two years ago, with a further 587 hectares at risk under current development plans. The plan aims to develop a large area in northern Hong Kong into a new metropolitan area. The San Tin Technopole project alone represents the city’s largest wetland loss in three decades, Greenpeace also said.

For the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS), filling the wetlands will destroy crucial foraging and roosting habitats for wildlife, including the endangered Black-faced Spoonbill population in Deep Bay in northwestern Hong Kong.

“The loss of lowland wetlands and farmland, along with habitat changes resulting from vegetation succession, significantly impacts both breeding and visiting birds,” said Yu Yat-tung, HKBWS’s Director.

Global Warming

Besides ecosystem degradation, human-made climate change is also affecting Hong Kong’s biodiversity.

Rising temperatures  are linked to more frequent and intense extreme weather events  with changes in precipitation patterns leading to shifts in seasonality and plant phenology across Hong Kong, according to the report. These changes affect the reproductive cycles of local species and degrade critical habitats. 

Simultaneously, rising temperatures force species unable to adapt to new conditions to move to new areas. Some endemic high-altitude species like the Giant Spiny Frog in Hong Kong are becoming particularly vulnerable. Confined to local hilltops and unable to migrate upwards, they are already at their altitudinal limit.

“[F]or high altitude species like some birds, the vegetation they depend on may disappear, so once they have reached the top of hills, they can only move up to heaven,” said Lam Chiu-ying, the former director of Hong Kong Observatory. 

2024 was the city’s warmest year on record, with an average annual temperature of 24.8C, 1.3C higher than the normal value from 1991 to 2020. Hong Kong broke 35 high temperature records last year, including the warmest April, hottest first half-year, and August’s highest number of “hot nights”, according to the Observatory.

Interestingly, some species have learned to adapt to a warmer world. 

Matthew Sin, Chief Environmental Affairs Manager at local environmental NGO Green Power, noted that tropical butterfly species like the Common Archduke, Tailless Line Blue , Common Line Blue, and Fluffy Tit have been consistently recorded since their first appearance.

According to Sin, the number of butterfly species has increased by an average of 0.6 species each year over the past two decades, from 110 to 128, with the total number of butterflies ranging from 3,900 to 7,800, increasing by an average of 70 each year.

He attributed the growth to the rising temperatures and the presence of suitable larval food plants in country parks, which have enabled them to adapt to the local ecosystem.  A University of Cambridge study published in 2023 also showed that tropical butterflies with bigger bodies and darker colours are better at adapting to heat. 

Urbanization Controversy

Habitat loss and degradation pose the most critical threat to Hong Kong’s biodiversity, according to WWF, disproportionately impacting specialized species with limited ranges and mobility, such as amphibians, freshwater fish, butterflies, and dragonflies. 

Key drivers of such threats include the disappearance of natural lowland rivers due to flood control, degradation of freshwater habitats from land-use changes and natural succession, abandonment or conversion of wet farmlands, urban encroachment on Deep Bay wetlands, and water pollution within the Deep Bay catchment.

According to the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS), approximately 175 hectares of the planned project are in the Inner Deep Bay and Shenzhen River catchment area, which is internationally recognized as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area supporting bird populations, particularly those that are rare, threatened, or experiencing large seasonal migrations.

The project is poised to destroy 150 hectares of the wetland conservation area and 97 hectares of the wetland buffer zone, rendering the wetland planning and conservation principles that have been in place for 30 years virtually meaningless, according to HKBWS.

About 1,500 hectares of wetland in the Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay region are listed as the only Ramsar Site in Hong Kong. A Ramsar Site is a wetland designated under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, commonly known as the Ramsar Convention. This international treaty, which Hong Kong joined in 1995, promotes the conservation and wise use of wetlands worldwide.

While the WWF report mostly focused on terrestrial animals, large-scale urbanization projects are also affecting Hong Kong’s marine life. A 2025 study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong indicates that the population of Chinese white dolphins in Hong Kong has declined from 158 in 2003 to 37 in 2020. 

According to the study, dolphins in the North Lantau area have been most severely affected by reclamation, high-speed ferry, and water pollution. The construction of a third runway at the Hong Kong International Airport, the artificial island for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and land reclamation in the Dong River have led to a significant reduction in the habitat of Chinese white dolphins.

The research team also said that rising sea temperatures have had an adverse impact on dolphin populations. In addition, over the past few decades, eutrophication in the Pearl River Delta has led to algae blooms that consume excessive amounts of oxygen from the sea surface, damaging the original marine ecosystem and making it less suitable for Chinese white dolphins than in the past.

“This research reveals the devastating effects of habitat loss, pollution and unsustainable marine activities on dolphins, while also exposing the limitations of current conservation measures, such as marine protected areas, in addressing these complex challenges,” said Leung Pui-kin, Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability at Chinese University of Hong Kong. 

What’s Next?

WWF recommended that the Planning Department and the Town Planning Board collaborate with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) to conduct mandatory ecological surveys prior to zoning and ensure that land use decisions do not damage these areas in order to protect Hong Kong’s rural and lowland habitats.

All planned Wetland Conservation Parks (WCP) in the Northern Metropolis should be built as soon as possible to prevent further degradation by vegetation succession in abandoned fishponds, WWF also said.

“The government has prioritized development over conservation in the Northern Metropolis, home to internationally important wetlands, while reneging on its original plan to recognize the boundaries of the wetland conservation park, reducing its area for development and delaying the establishment of a conservation plan,” said Chow Oi-chuen, the former Public Affairs Manager of The Conservation Association, the oldest environmental organization in Hong Kong. 

Lam Chiu-ying also suggested creating a Hong Kong Ecology Building Department, in order to promote area-based conservation measures and better monitor, expand and manage protected areas in Hong Kong. In a blog post, he also went on to suggest increasing  resources to the AFCD to form an expert team and supporting personnel to plan, establish, supervise and/or operate protected areas and conservation areas under the guidance of the committee.

To conserve endangered species in Hong Kong, priority should be given to protecting habitats, updating laws, and boosting public involvement in conservation, the WWF report concluded. 
“The last comprehensive species status assessment and biodiversity hotspot map for Hong Kong was produced over two decades ago. It is high time for us to reassess the state of biodiversity in Hong Kong to reflect changes in the environment and ensure our conservation actions align with species and habitats in the most urgent needs,” said Carmen Ka Man Or, the Manager of Wetlands Research of WWF-Hong Kong.

On August 5, Hong Kong was hit by record-breaking daily rainfall of 368.9 millimeteres, a third of the monthly total and the highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884.

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Last month was Hong Kong’s third wettest August on record with 939.2 millimeteres of rainfall recorded, the city’s Observatory has said.

An unusually wet start to the month necessitated the issuance of three Black Rainstorm Warning signals – the highest rainfall signal – in just four days between August 2 and 5, a record for the city. On August 5, Hong Kong was hit by record-breaking daily rainfall of 368.9 millimeteres, the highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884.

The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) also issued four tropical cyclone warning signals last month, tying the highest single-month record since 1946, as two typhoons – Podul and Kajiki – and two tropical depressions skirted the city.

5 More Typhoons

Up to five more typhoons are expected to come within 500 kilometers (310 miles) of Hong Kong before the end of the year, an above-normal figure, HKO warned last month. It also predicted that the coming months would be rainier and hotter than usual given warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.

While typhoons are a rather common weather phenomenon, there has been a significant increase in their intensity in recent decades, which scientific observations link to increased ocean temperatures. As ocean surfaces warm, so does the air above it, causing water to be carried up to high altitudes to form clouds, while leaving a low pressure zone beneath causing more air to rush in. As these systems build up, thunderstorms are formed. In the absence of strong winds to disrupt it, the system can intensify into a typhoon.

While the number of typhoons is not necessarily increasing, those that do form are becoming more destructive – generating heavier rain and a higher storm surge.

Record Heat

September was off to a hot start in Hong Kong, with temperatures on Monday – the first day of the month – reaching 38.4C in Sheung Shui. According to HKO, it was the highest September temperature since records at that station began in 2004.

Featured image: Kyle Lam/hongkongfp.com

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As extreme heat intensifies, Hong Kong’s most vulnerable populations find themselves on the frontlines of a growing climate crisis, highlighting a stark divide between those who can escape the heat and those who cannot.

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Ling Chan, a street cleaner in her 70s, is one of Hong Kong’s thousands of outdoor workers enduring the sweltering summer heat with minimal protection.

She recalled suffering from heatstroke last year – the city’s hottest on record: “Suddenly I felt dizzy. I immediately had to sit down on a bench. I had never sat down before while working, that was the first time,” she told Earth.Org in Cantonese.

Hong Kong broke 35 temperature records in 2024, including the warmest April and first half-year on record. 

With temperatures rising in the city, in line with the global trend, the government in 2023 implemented a three-tier Heat Stress at Work Warning system ranging from amber to red and black, advising employers to provide rest breaks to prevent heatstroke among outdoor workers. 

Under a red or black alert, bar benders and porters are advised to stop work completely, while other outdoor workers should be granted more rest time.

Despite the new system, many workers like Chan often experience heat-related symptoms while working, including tiredness, thirst, headaches, dizziness, rises in body temperature and nausea.

The street cleaner told Earth.Org that she rarely takes breaks, fearing she will be reported for “looking unprofessional” – a sentiment echoed by other outdoor workers across the city interviewed by Earth.Org.

Seeking shade in a back alley with a portable fan near a garbage collection point in Tsuen Wan, a cleaner surnamed Yu said workers often do not have anywhere to hide from the heat.

“The weather is too hot to bear. Even taking a breath is difficult, let alone working. The exhaust in the back alley is terrible – there’s air conditioner exhaust and the oily fumes from the cha chaan tengs [Hong Kong-style cafes],” he told Earth.Org in Cantonese.

On July 8, Hong Kong recorded its hottest Xiaoshu since 1884, with temperatures reaching 34.3C. Xiaoshu, the 11th solar term in the traditional Chinese calendar, marks the start of summer’s hottest period. But heat has been persisting for longer, with the city’s Observatory issuing the earliest “Very Hot Weather” Warning on record on April 15.

A food delivery worker surnamed Ng reported experiencing heat rash and skin peeling from sun exposure. “When you go out at noon, it’s easy to get sunburned because your body isn’t used to it,” he said in Cantonese.

Ng added that riders must provide their own protective equipment as companies like Foodpanda and Keeta offer little support for heat protection.

Last year, the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, a non-profit, said that nearly 40% of 470 workers it interviewed between late June to mid-August reported that their employers had not provided them with any measures to help prevent heat stress.

A postal worker who asked to remain anonymous revealed that despite working nine hours a day in extreme heat, he receives only 20 minutes for breaks.

“In order to meet our daily targets, we have no other way,” he said in Cantonese, adding that he delivers an average of 16 kilograms of mail daily.

Indoor Furnaces

While outdoor workers struggle under the sun, residents of subdivided flats face equally dangerous conditions indoors.

Hong Kong recorded a maximum temperature of 36.5C in the first week of July, but temperatures inside subdivided flats could be even higher, according to a study by the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO), a local non-governmental human rights advocacy group.

From May to July, the organization surveyed 334 people living in inadequate housing and measured daily temperatures in 11 units. They found that temperatures in these cramped living spaces soared to highs of 40C.

For an elderly subdivided flat tenant surnamed Fong in Kwai Chung, the reality is inescapable: “It’s like living in a steamer. Last summer there were a lot of bed bugs. We couldn’t live in peace,” he told Earth.Org in Cantonese in a phone call.

When the heat becomes unbearable, Fong takes frequent showers and visits shopping malls to cool down, he said.

SoCO also noted that some rooftop slums and cage homes remain boiling hot even with air conditioners running because they are directly exposed to sunlight.

“Many [subdivided unit tenants] experience indoor temperatures that are hotter than outdoors,” SoCO’s Deputy Director Sze Lai-shan told Earth.Org in a phone call. “For the rooftop units, since they’re directly on the top floor and the materials sometimes don’t resist heat well, they are almost always the hottest.”

The economic burden compounds the physical discomfort, with Fong reporting that his electricity bill triples or quadruples during summer months due to air conditioning use.

In response to the sentiment expressed by the subdivided unit residents it surveyed, SoCO urged the government to establish a permanent scheme of subsidies for energy bills, such as monthly allowances, in the long term.

The Way Forward

Noting a gap between official policies and meaningful protection, environmentalists are stepping up to address these climate inequities. 

Founded in 2021, the Community Climate Resilience Concern Group has been working to create accessible cooling spaces throughout Hong Kong.

“There are temporary heat shelters in Hong Kong, but only 19 across all 18 districts. Not all of these shelters are open during daytime, and their locations may not be accessible to the most vulnerable groups,” said Blaire Ho, a member of the youth-led organisation.

In 2022, the group launched a project partnering with cafes and bookshops to provide free cooling spaces for vulnerable populations. These rest stations now span eight districts with more than 10 partner locations.

“We’re trying to change the agenda of using public space to see if they can offer the space freely while it can serve the uses of climate adaptation as well,” Ho told Earth.Org in a phone call. The team has also been collecting heat relief items, such as fans and hats, to distribute to those in need.

Beyond creating physical spaces, the group emphasized the need for education and awareness. “We really hope to raise public awareness because in our education, no one has ever taught us that everyone experiences climate change differently,” said member Osbert Leung. 

Looking ahead, the group called on policymakers to design public spaces that better account for the unequal impact of climate change.

Featured image: Kelly Yu/Earth.Org.

More than a year after implementing the first phase of the single-use plastics ban, Hong Kong restaurateurs are lamenting the lack of suitable alternative materials. As the city’s problem with plastic waste persists, the government can learn from successful international case studies and accelerate the adoption of proper plastic alternatives to achieve a plastic-free future.

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The implementation of a two-phase ban on single-use plastics in Hong Kong has taken a hit, as the city struggles to find alternatives.

Last month, Secretary for the Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said on Commercial Radio that the government is looking to launch a trial campaign with selected restaurants within two months to test alternative products and provide feedback to suppliers for improvement.
“We will implement the second phase of the legislation only when the alternative product technology is more mature,” Tse told iCable in June. “It is difficult to require everyone to use their own utensils when buying take-away food, we need to find suitable alternatives before we continue with phase two,” he added.

Two-Phase Ban

The Legislative Council passed the Product Eco-responsibility (Amendment) Bill for regulating disposable plastic tableware and other plastic products in October 2023. 

The first phase prohibits the sale or supply of styrofoam tableware, disposable plastic tableware such as straws, stirrers, cutlery, and plates, as well as the supply of cups, cup lids, food containers, and food container lids to dine-in and take-out customers in catering establishments. In the second phase, the supply and sale of all of the above plastic tableware in Hong Kong will be forbidden. 

At the same time, hotels and guesthouses are banned from providing free disposable toiletries and grooming products (including rubber-handled toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower caps, razors, nail files, combs, and any liquid products stored in disposable plastic containers), as well as free disposable water in plastic bottles in rooms. The second phase will further prohibit the sale and free supply of multipack rings, table cloths, and plastic stemmed dental floss, and the distribution of free earplugs.

The manufacturing, supply and sale of oxidizable biodegradable plastic products – plastics that cannot be completely decomposed – have also been prohibited since the first phase was implemented in April 2024.

Businesses failing to comply with the regulation will be issued a notice and fined $2,000 if they have not taken action within 21 days from the notice. Repeated offences may result in fines of up to HK$100,000. 

More than 19% of the 3.97 million tonnes of municipal solid waste disposed of at Hong Kong’s landfills in 2023 was plastic waste, a 10.5% decrease from the year prior, according to Environmental Protection Department (EPD) figures. Meanwhile, the quantity of plastic recycled locally rose from 119,900 tonnes in 2022 to 126,600 tonnes in 2023 – but still represented only 6.5% of the total waste.

Other Initiatives

To counter the rising plastic problem in the city, the EPD in 2021 also rolled out a Reverse Vending Machine pilot scheme for collecting plastic beverage containers, which was subsequently expanded to 120 machines scattered across all 18 Hong Kong districts. The machines offer a HK$0.10 rebate for each plastic beverage container returned. Customers need to register an account, and can return a maximum of 30 containers per day. 

“The machine is effective and does not require a huge monetary incentive. The refund of 10 cents for each plastic bottle is already attractive enough for the public to be willing to recycle,” Tse said in February. 

As of last month, the scheme had collected 179 million containers, which are sent to local recyclers, saving more than 6.7 million kilograms of carbon emission, according to EPD data.

However, some critics have argued that the incentive is too low. According to Robert Kelman, Director at Reloop Pacific, an international non-profit that tackles packaging waste throughout the Pacific, the HK$0.10 rebate – the lowest in the world for such a program – is “virtually meaningless” to most Hong Kong consumers. He further argued that the low number of plastic bottles received at the recycling centres is disincentivizing recycling companies to invest in the scheme. 

For Kelman, a scheme cannot succeed unless it is both convenient to consumers and offers an adequate refund value.

“I’m not sure which studies Tse was referring to when he said the rebate of 10 HK cents (1.3 US cents) was ‘attractive enough’ after lawmakers raised doubts about the effectiveness of such a rebate,” said Edwin Lau Che-feng, Executive Director of local environmental organization Green Earth. “Why not use a deposit approach in light of successful cases around the world, some of which have achieved a recovery rate of more than 90 per cent?” 

Lau was referring to so-called Deposit Refund Schemes (DRSs), which apply an initial deposit, or “tax”, on the purchase, which is then returned to the consumer upon proper recycling. 

More than 40 countries around the world have implemented DRSs. Slovakia, for example, requires consumers to pay a deposit of €0.15 (HK$1.37) for packaged beverages. The scheme, launched in 2022, resulted in a recovery rate of 70% in the first year. Similarly, Germany imposes deposits on glass and plastic beverage containers ranging between €0.08 and €0.25 (HK$0.73-2.28) and in 2022, it was able to achieve a 98.4% return rate. 

“The authorities should realise that had they taken the deposit approach, coupled with a higher deposit value than the current rebate of 10 HK cents, producers, with retailers’ support, would have no trouble reaching a recovery rate higher than the suggested initial targets of 10 per cent for drink cartons and 30 per cent for plastic bottles,” said Lau.

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Plastic-Free Matters

Plastics take 400 years to decompose – and even then, they do not fully disappear but rather break down into tiny particles known as  microplastics. According to Greenpeace East Asia, 97% of Hong Kong’s riverine waste is plastic, of which more than 70% is food, logistics and beverage packaging as well as disposable tableware. 

In 2021, Greenpeace found microplastics in Hong Kong’s countryside streams for the first time, and last year, it detected microplastics in the feces of countryside mammals.

“Country streams are at the front end of the entire water cycle. The fact that they are contaminated by microplastics is a major warning sign that plastic pollution in urban rivers and oceans may be even more serious,” said Tam Wing-lam, the Greenpeace’s Project Director. She warned that microplastics can contaminate the water system, threatening public health.

Christelle Not, Senior Lecturer of Department of Earth Sciences in University of Hong Kong, said Greenpeace’s findings demonstrated that wildlife can still take up microplastics from the environment even when they are far away from urban areas and human activities.

Microplastics carry harmful additives and toxins that can damage the nervous, immune and endocrine systems when they accumulate in the food chain and enter the human body. Exposure to plastics and microplastics is linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes, developmental disorder, cancers, birth defects, and endocrine disruption.

Plastic is also detrimental to animals. Sea animals like turtles often mistake plastic for food, but their bodies are unable to digest it. They can become entangled, leading to injuries and even death. 

A research team at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) found that micro beads, manufactured micro plastics used in products ranging from facial scrubs to toothpastes, ending up in the digestive tracts of fish and other marine creatures can affect their growth and development. 
“Despite all the adverse impacts these minute plastic pollutants have on the marine ecosystems, they are still being used in many personal care products around the world – including here in Hong Kong,” said Karen Chan, Assistant Professor from the Division of Life Science at HKUST and study lead.

Finding Alternatives

The most common plastic substitutes in Hong Kong include paper, bamboo, wood, and plant-based fibers such as wood pulp, grass pulp, and bagasse. Among these, paper and bagasse are the most widely used in both tableware and daily accessories due to their eco-friendliness and practicality. 

While considered more eco-friendly than plastic, paper packaging manufacturing is still associated with carbon dioxide emissions and extensive water usage. According to local environmental NGO Friends of the Earth, producing one tonne of paper generates approximately 950 kilograms of carbon dioxide and requires 2,700 litres of water. Still, contrary to plastic, paper is a natural, biological, and in most cases renewable material, making it a better alternative.  

The Hong Kong Consumer Council also reported in 2022 that perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in 23 samples of bagasse-based vegetable fibre tableware, with some paper drinking straws exceeding the European Union’s safe limits. 

PFAS – better known as forever chemicals – are synthetic chemicals used in the manufacture of heat-, oil-, and water-resistant coatings for products like nonstick cookware or waterproof clothes. They are associated with increased risk of certain cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers, and found to reduce the body’s immune system’s ability to fight off infections.

In 2023, researchers from the University of Antwerp in Belgium who examined 39 different types of straws (paper, glass, bamboo, stainless steel, plastic) discovered that PFAS was present in 90% of paper straws and 80% of bamboo straws. 75% of all tested plastic straws also contained PFAS.

The cost of non-plastic tableware is also one of the factors that restaurants need to take into account. According to the Environmental Protection Department, the price difference between the lowest-priced disposable plastic product option and its lowest-priced alternative is still relatively large, ranging from HK$0.12 to HK$0.68.

However, costs are expected to decrease as demand, and consequently production, ramp up, said Simon Wong Ka-wo, President of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades. 

Some restaurant owners or customers were also unhappy about the quality of alternative options. “If you’re walking home with your takeaway order in this box, that’d be fine. But if you have to drive, then that wouldn’t work,” the owner of a Shanghainese restaurant, who is surnamed Lee, told Hong Kong Free Press last April. 

“It literally takes two sips [before] the [paper] straw starts getting soggy, and the forks don’t even work!” said one of his customers.

At the end of the day, neither recycling nor switching to biodegradable tableware is the best solution, environmentalists argue. 

“Instead of placing our hopes in recycling and the use of degradable plastics, we should seek to avoid, reduce at source and reuse,” said Lau. “We must ditch our addiction to single-use plastics, slash plastic production at source and develop genuine plastic-free and harmless alternatives.” 

Featured image: Martina Igini.