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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a written reply by the Secretary for Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (March 3):
Question:
Regarding the use of disposable and reusable food containers by schools, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of food containers used by primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong in the past three years and the respective percentages of disposable and reusable food containers; and among such disposable food containers, the percentage of the recyclable ones;
(b) of the current number of recyclers which recover disposable food containers in Hong Kong; the percentage of recovered food containers in the total number of disposable food containers in the past three years; and how the Government deals with those disposable food containers which have not been recovered; and
(c) as the Secretary for the Environment, in replying to a question from a Member of this Council on January 13, 2010, pointed out, "The Environment and Conservation Fund has reserved $50 million to support existing schools to conduct retrofitting works and install facilities necessary for implementing 'on-site meal portioning'. Each school will be subsidised for the actual expenditure incurred. We have now already started receiving applications for such subsidies", whether the Government has set a target for the number of applications; if it has, of the details; and how the Government will meet this target?
Reply:
(a) The Environmental Protection Department conducted a questionnaire survey covering all schools in Hong Kong in 2008. The findings showed that about 550,000 students lunched in schools each day. A breakdown of their lunch practices is tabulated below:
Lunch Practices Proportion
(by meal units)
-----------------------------------------------------
Reusable vessels (such as lunch 51%
provided by parents, students
bringing their own lunch, "on-site meal
portioning" and reusable containers)
Recyclable containers (poly- 30%
propylene (PP) containers)
Other disposable containers (such as 19%
paper, tin foil and polyfoam)
Relevant data for 2007 and 2009 are not available.
(b) Based on the above findings for 2008, students throughout Hong Kong used about 160,000 recyclable PP containers each day. Such containers can be sold as plastic waste after undergoing cleaning and shredding. We understand that there are currently five recyclers in Hong Kong who can recover PP containers, and they handle a total of about 100,000 PP containers daily. Disposable containers which are not recovered will be delivered to landfills for disposal.
(c) The provision of lunch with disposable containers at schools will result in wastage and run counter to green living education. In view of this, since October 2009 the Environment Bureau and the Education Bureau have jointly promoted a Green Lunch Charter (the Charter) to encourage schools to use reusable cutlery and containers and adopt "on-site meal portioning" where possible. The portion can be adjusted according to students' needs to reduce food wastage, and this in turn can instill the value of resource conservation in students. 270 schools signed the Charter when the launching ceremony was held on February 26, 2010.
In tandem with the launch of the Charter, the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) has earmarked $50 million to subsidise basic conversion works and the installation of necessary facilities at schools to implement on-site meal portioning. This new subsidy is open to application starting from December 7, 2009 and the response has been satisfactory. As at February 19, 2010, about 180 schools have expressed their interest in applying for the subsidy and submitted to the ECF Secretariat the "Request for Site Visit to School to Assess Feasibility of Implementing On-site Meal Portioning" form.
The Secretariat is making arrangements for its works agent to visit these schools and provide full project management services to those schools suitable for implementing on-site meal portioning by helping them with applications for funding, conversion works and the installation of facilities. We estimate that in normal cases, works can commence during the summer holiday in 2010 for completion before the new school term to enable schools to discontinue the use of disposable containers as early as possible.
On-site meal portioning facilities have also become standard facilities of newly built schools. Seven schools under construction, which are due for completion between February 2011 and February 2012, will be installed with such facilities.
We will continue to implement the above measures to encourage more schools to adopt more environmentally-friendly lunch practices.
Ends/Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:21
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