Letters | Single-use alternatives to plastic distract from real solutions

Readers discuss the dangers of quick fixes to plastic pollution, the importance of understanding soft power, and the growing urgency of the climate crisis

Reading Time:4 minutes

Pedestrians walk by a shop in Sham Shui Po using single-use plastics, on October 20, 2024. Photo: Eugene Lee

Published: 11:30am, 12 May 2025Updated: 11:31am, 12 May 2025

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To tackle the plastic waste crisis, degradable plastic and non-plastic products have been widely promoted as an eco-friendly alternative to single-use plastic. Some businesses are even willing to pay more for degradable packaging.

However, degradable products are also problematic. Oxo-degradable plastics, for example, are bad for the environment as they degrade into harmful microplastics. Although Hong Kong finally banned such plastics last year, we have found that packaging and bags made of them are still widely used (“70 Hong Kong retailers allegedly sold oxo-degradable plastics despite ban: NGO”, April 22).

I recently came across yet another kind of supposedly green packaging. The maker claimed the product does not contain plastic and can be dissolved by soaking it in hot water at 90 degrees Celsius or above, and the solution can be poured harmlessly down the drain.

I wonder if people would really take the trouble to boil water in a big pot to soak all this packaging until it is dissolved. Even if they did, wouldn’t this create a bigger problem if the fish and other marine species in our oceans ended up swallowing dissolved packaging?

Over the years, plastic waste has become a serious ecological and health threat. Businesses have adopted different ways to address this. Some sectors, such as the beverage industry, have embraced recycling, while others, including the food service industry, prefer using degradable tableware.