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RTHK
09-07-2025
- Politics
- RTHK
Switch waste charges for recycling rewards: lawmaker
Switch waste charges for recycling rewards: lawmaker Judy Chan says rather than the public handing over money to throw rubbish away, they should earn rewards for recycling it. Photo: RTHK Legislator Judy Chan says the government would get more people behind its plan to cut down on the amount of household waste produced in the city if it dished out rewards for recycling, rather than fees for disposing of rubbish. A charging scheme involving people having to buy designated bin bags was meant to begin last August but was shelved indefinitely in the face of widespread opposition. Chan, who is the deputy chairwoman of Legco's panel on food safety and environmental hygiene, said fees and fines are not the way to go, and a reward system would be better. She cited the city's Green@Community network as an example, with people who recycle able to earn points to redeem for rewards. Chan also called for Green@Community to set up more recycling stations and to accept food waste, being as this accounts for more than a third of all rubbish that ends up in landfills. "If we wish to change people's lifestyles, we need to have more support by providing convenient spots for the citizens as much as possible, in the hope that amid the hectic work life of Hongkongers, there is a place near their home for them to do recycling without affecting their busy work life," she said. Chan also said she believes the next phase of a single-use plastics ban will be more challenging than the first, because it will cover plastic cups and food containers. Nevertheless, she said she expects the expansion of the scheme to go smoothly because it will only begin once suitable alternative products have been found.
South China Morning Post
28-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
After a year's delay, Hong Kong is ready to roll out waste charging
It's been a year since Hong Kong shelved its plan to charge households for the waste they produce. Are we any closer to introducing waste charging? Advertisement Earlier this month, the Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said the government has been assessing the situation and would report its findings soon to the Legislative Council's Panel on Environmental Affairs. He noted that many conditions had to be in place before the scheme could be rolled out. We believe the time is right. Over the past year, the government has enhanced its support for recycling and public education. This is a key improvement, given that low recycling rates and low public awareness were the main reasons for the botched roll-out last year. Tse highlighted significant progress made, including an 80 per cent increase in visits to the Green@Community recycling network and a nearly 60 per cent rise in recyclables collected in 2024. The government has installed 1,200 smart collection bins for food waste in housing estates across the city, with the aim of increasing the number to 1,600 this year. Meanwhile, the daily per capita municipal solid waste disposal rate dropped from 1.44kg in 2023 to 1.4kg in 2024. Besides, waste charging would benefit the economy, as South Korea's experience shows. South Korea introduced waste charging in 1995. By 2004, it saw a 24 per cent reduction in waste volume and gained an estimated 8 trillion won (US$5.6 billion) in economic benefits, in terms of avoided waste treatment costs and the market value of increased recycling products, according to a case study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Advertisement Waste charging could yield similar benefits for Hong Kong. Our Hong Kong Foundation researcher Peter Lam Kung-shing has found that every tonne in waste reduction generates a net benefit of HK$955.50, while every tonne of waste recycling yields HK$125.60. The estimated net benefit of waste charging is HK$637.3 million per year.
