'Food Courts Swamping HK With Disposable Items'

The environmental group Green Sense on Thursday expressed alarm over the sheer volume of disposable cutlery being used during lunchtimes at food courts in the city.

The group estimated that just at the food court in Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong, more than 100,000 plastic knives, forks and spoons are thrown away each month.

Activists said people should simply refuse to accept disposable cutlery and restaurants ought to give out washable, reusable alternatives.

A senior project manager at Green Sense, Gabrielle Ho, added that the plastic cutlery isn't the only problem. She said researchers collected more than 15,000 disposable items during lunch hours at 10 food courts across the city, and napkins were the most common item.

"We can project that if in Hong Kong there are over 10,500 restaurants, in the peak hours for two hours, monthly, they [the napkins given out] can cover 86 football fields. So it is very horrible that we give out so many napkins," Ho told RTHK's Richard Pyne.