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Following is a question by the Hon Choy So-yuk and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (October 22) :

Question:

At present, non-profit-making organisations may apply for funding from the Environment and Conservation Fund for launching their community waste recovery projects. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the types of materials recovered and their respective weights, broken down by waste recovery project completed over the past two years;

(b) of the unit cost of recovery (i.e. the ratio between the amount of funding granted and the weight of the recovered materials) of the projects mentioned in (a) above, and the market price per tonne of the materials recovered, broken down by type of recovered materials; and

(c) whether the organisers of the community waste recovery projects had offered the materials recovered in the past two years for sale in the market and forwarded the revenue so generated to the authorities; if so, of the sum received by the authorities; if not, how the organisers and the authorities have disposed of the materials recovered?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) So far, eight community waste recovery projects funded by the Environment and Conservation Fund have been completed. The types and quantity of materials recovered in these projects is at the Annex.

(b) As some of the projects involved collection of more than one type of recyclables, it is not possible to provide the unit cost for each type of materials. The unit cost for recovering the materials as a whole in each project is also at the Annex(pdf format).

The market price of recyclable materials fluctuates from time to time, and is also dependent on the quantity and quality of the materials. Generally, we understand that the current market price of waste paper is $600-800 per tonne, that of aluminum cans is $3,500-4,000 per tonne, and those of plastic bottles and old clothes are $300-500 and $2,000-2,100 per tonne respectively.

(c) The total market value of all the materials recovered in the projects is approximately $300,000. Most of the project teams have used the materials to offset all or part of the transportation cost in the projects.

Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2003

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