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The Environment
Waste Reduction
The Hong Kong Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources 2013-2022 details the strategy, policies and plans to reduce the per capita municipal solid waste disposal rate. The government will set out policies and legislation to drive behavioural changes to reduce waste at source, undertake targeted citywide waste reduction campaigns to raise public awareness and encourage community participation, and enhance waste-related infrastructure.
A Food Waste & Yard Waste Plan for Hong Kong 2014-2022 maps out a comprehensive strategy, targets, policies and action plans to manage food waste and yard waste. The government has four strategies to reduce the disposal of food waste in landfills by 40 per cent by 2022: reduction at source, reuse and donation, recyclable collection, and waste-to-energy conversion.
The Source Separation of Waste Programme provides waste separation facilities where people live and work. It covers more than 80 per cent of the population.
Quantity-based waste charging creates financial incentives that aim to drive behavioural changes in waste generation and hence reduce overall waste disposal. The government is committed to introducing municipal solid waste charging as a key policy tool and expects to implement a charging scheme towards the end of 2019 at the earliest.
The government continues to introduce producer responsibility schemes to encourage recovery, recycling and waste reduction at source. In 2017, subsidiary legislation for the scheme. on waste electrical and electronic equipment was enacted, while a new treatment and recycling facility, WEEE Park, was completed and put into initial operation to handle regulated waste equipment.
Waste Recycling
The department supports the recycling trade and educates the public to reduce waste at source, separate waste properly to prevent contamination of recyclables, improve the quality of recyclables collected and lessen the burden of subsequent treatment.
The Community Recycling Network promotes waste recycling by providing community-level outlets to collect recyclables of low commercial value. Community participation is encouraged through district-based education, promotion and waste reduction and recycling activities. A publicity programme is undertaken to enhance awareness of clean recycling, which would in turn increase the recyclability and economic value of recyclables.
The network of community green stations is being expanded across the territory to strengthen support for recycling at the community level. In 2017, the stations in Kwun Tong, Yuen Long and Sham Shui Po were commissioned.
Between 2012 and 2016, an annual average of 56 per cent of paper and 90 per cent of metal in municipal solid waste was recovered. The recovery rate of plastics was 14 per cent.
During the same period, an average of 83 per cent of solid waste, including municipal solid waste and overall construction waste, was recovered each year, working out to an annual
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