Charges for disposable flatware widely accepted

Disposable flatware. File photo

Many citizens have shown support for charging for disposable flatware by businesses but said that it is necessary to standardize the charging standard and the price of disposable flatware, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

Shenzhen officially implemented its waste classification regulation Sept. 1 this year. According to Article 46 of the regulation, dining services and food delivery service providers shall not provide consumers with disposable chopsticks, forks and spoons free of charge.

At present, most well-known chain restaurants, including McDonald’s, Honglicun, Yonghe Dawang and Starbucks, have started to charge extra for disposable flatware to answer the government’s call to phase out disposable plastic products.

In addition to dine-in service, many businesses have added the “flatware” option on takeout and delivery platforms. Consumers must choose whether they need flatware when ordering takeout and will have to pay an extra fee, most of which costs 0.1 yuan (US$0.015), if they need the flatware.

“More and more customers choose no flatware,” a staff member of a Chinese restaurant told the Daily. According to the diner’s monthly sales volume on takeout platforms, “no flatware” customers accounted for 30 to 40 percent of the total customers.

“Charging can reduce the use of disposable flatware, which is conducive to environmental protection,” a citizen surnamed Huang said.

However, some citizens hold a wait-and-see attitude, and think that the feasibility of charging disposable flatware needs further discussion.

According to a citizen surnamed Qiu, charging flatware is not much of a problem, but businesses should charge reasonable fees or provide nondisposable flatware for customers to choose from, and should not increase consumers’ expenditure.

An industry insider pointed out that the reason why charging disposable flatware is controversial is that the cost of the commodity has decreased, but the price of the commodity remains unchanged, which consumers may feel is unfair.

According to the city’s market supervision and regulation bureau, starting from next month, if a food service provider is found to provide disposable chopsticks, forks and spoons free of charge for the first time, it will be ordered to rectify within a specified time limit.

The violator will be fined no less than 1,000 yuan and no more than 5,000 yuan if the rectification is not made within the time limit.