Secretary for the Environment, Transport & Works Dr Sarah Liao hopes the legal framework for producer responsibility schemes can be ready next year, adding public education is important in reducing the use of plastic bags.

Dr Liao said today a two-pronged approach - education and legislation - will be taken to cut the use of plastic bags. While supermarkets will launch a series of measures to disncourage use of plastic bags, the Government will consult the trade and the public extensively on laws banning the free distribution of plastic bags and imposing a tax to deter their use.

On the use of renewable energy, Dr Liao said Hong Kong has restrictions.

"Most countries would have to place their renewable energy generators in the countryside where they have plenty of space. We are very restricted in terms of finding the right site that the public would accept, that is one thing. The other is, of course, the lack of land. So we were talking about how to put windmills at sea, that is another consideration," she said.

"We have to think about the cost of the equipment we put to sea, which goes through corrosion much faster than those on land."