A green group on Thursday said a recent survey they conducted suggests that Hong Kong's countryside is cleaner than a year ago, as more hikers refrain from littering.

Green Power said that for the first time since 2016 – when it launched the annual survey – the number of plastic waste items generated by a person each time they go to the countryside has gone down to fewer than two items.

Over 60 percent of the 300 people polled said they were also willing to take their rubbish with them instead of discarding it in the countryside, the group said.

The respondents also visited the countryside less often, saying they ventured outside urban areas 2.5 times a month on average, down from 3.2 last year.

But over half of the interviewees believed that there is still a lot of rubbish in coastal areas, barbecue pits and camping sites.

Tissue paper, food packaging, plastic bags and disinfectant wipes were the most common types of rubbish found.

Henry Lui, the group's senior conservation manager, said he hopes there will be less waste in the countryside now that the fine for littering has doubled to HK$3,000, and with authorities to start a ban on disposable plastic products next year.

Separately, the government said Hong Kong's greenhouse gas emissions fell four percent year-on-year to 33.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022.

Officials said that also represents a 24 percent reduction compared with the peak seen in 2014.