Dr Sarah Liao, the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has announced the immediate implementation of a territory-wide programme on source separation of domestic waste at the kick-off ceremony of the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Festival recently, following a successful trial in 13 housing estates in the Eastern District since August 2004. She called on the public to participate in the programme.

The domestic waste recovery rate was targeted to increase from the present 14% to 20% by 2007. The Hong Kong Environment Protection Department (EPD) hopes that each housing estate participating in the programme can achieve a 50% increase in recovery quantity in the first year.

Background

In 2004, about 6.41 million tonnes of wastes were disposed of in our three landfills. It is projected that the existing landfills would only last 6 to 10 years if waste continues to grow at the current trend. Therefore, waste reduction and recycling is a main focus for tackling the waste problem.

In recent years Government has been testing out various forms of domestic waste separation and recovery with a view to identifying the modes that are convenient to residents, cost-effective and best suit local needs. It is recognized that there may be different modes for different types of buildings in Hong Kong.

Coloured waste separation bin system

Since the launch of the Waste Reduction Framework Plan in 1998, Government has been promoting waste reduction and recycling through the use of 3-coloured waste separation bins placed at housing estates for collection of paper, aluminium cans and plastic bottles. The 3-coloured-bin concept has been well received by the public. The bins are now placed in about 1,400 housing estates in the territory, covering about 70% of the population.

500,000 tonnes of paper, 20,000 tonnes of aluminium cans, and 4,000 tonnes of plastic bottles have been recovered since 1998, amounting to a total market value of $500 million and saved landfill cost of $65 million.

Pilot programme on dry and wet waste separation

The EPD conducted a 12-month pilot programme on separating dry and wet wastes in four housing estates in the Eastern District in March 2003. The amount of recyclables collected from these four housing estates was 12% more than the territory-average of housing estates using the 3-coloured waste separation bin system only. The total amount of plastic waste collected was increased rigorously by 250%. Despite the impressive results, this scheme is not sustainable as the net processing cost is high.

Pilot programme on source separation of waste

Making waste separation more convenient

In order to make it more convenient for residents to separate waste, a 12-month Pilot Programme on Source Separation of Waste has been launched in 13 housing estates in the Eastern District (covering about 37,000 households and a population of about 120,000) since August 2004.

The objective of the programme is to facilitate residents to separate waste at source by providing waste separation facilities on each floor of the buildings, and broaden the types of recyclables to be recovered. All residents need to do is to separate recyclables in the waste by category, such as waste paper, metals and plastics, and then take them to designated locations on each floor.

‘‘Tailor-made‘‘ for each estate

In Lei King Wan, residents help enhancing the quantity of waste recovered by stacking waste paper on the shelf installed on the wall in the refuse room on each floor and putting metals and plastics in designated collection bins. In Lei King Wan, residents help enhancing the quantity of recyclables recovered by stacking waste paper on the wall-mounted shelf in the refuse room on each floor, and putting metals and plastics in designated coll