New plastic bag levy story voted top consumer news of Year of the Tiger
The results of the “Top 10 Consumer News – Year of the Tiger” voting campaign organized by the Consumer Council were announced on Monday, with the story about Hong Kong’s newly implemented plastic bag levy taking the top spot.
With the plastic bag levy story taking the top spot, pandemic-related news stories also took up 5 spots amongst the top 10, including rapid antigen test (RAT) kits, flight arrangements, consumption vouchers, and shop closures.
The consumer watchdog noted that the “Teletubby incident”, in which a HK$30,000 compensation was imposed by the trader on the boy who allegedly knocked over the figure, not only received the second-highest number of votes (3,315 votes) within the top 10, but was also voted as the “Most Outrageous” consumer news by the public.
Commenting on the news story “Plastic Bag Levy Raised to $1 Frozen/Chilled Foodstuff No Longer Exempt” topping the list, the Council said they were pleased about the result as it is indicative of the heightened importance and practice of sustainable consumption in consumers’ everyday life.
Clement Chan Kam-wing, chairman of the Council, thanked the public for their support during his welcome speech at the awards presentation ceremony.
“It has been almost 20 years since the ‘Top 10 Consumer News’ was launched in 2005. We are grateful for the public’s longstanding support, and we are particularly pleased by the overwhelming voting numbers despite during the pandemic and this era of information overload.” Chan added.