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The Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) today (July 4) rolled out a scheme to help housing estates reduce food waste and separate waste food at source.
Housing estates are encouraged to partner with non-government organisations to hold education and promotion programmes to raise residents' awareness of food waste reduction and engage their active participation in food waste recycling. The scheme also subsidises the installation and operation of on-site food waste treatment facilities at participating housing estates.
Food waste accounts for about one third (i.e. 3,000 tonnes) of the 9,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposed of at our landfills every day.
"The disposal of a large quantity of food waste at landfills is not sustainable. We hope that the funding scheme launched by the ECF for the reduction, collection and on-site treatment of food waste in housing estates can help raise public awareness, promote behavioural change, and reduce the disposal of food waste. The support of individual households is crucial to our effort to reduce the generation and disposal of food waste," a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said.
The funding scheme is part of the Government's overall strategy to tackle food waste. Organic waste treatment facilities are being developed at Siu Ho Wan and Sha Ling to handle food wastes in bulk. At the same time, efforts are being made to encourage reduction of food waste and its proper treatment at source.
"Data collected and experience learned from participating estates can help us identify the factors for consideration in the wider promotion of food waste collection and recycling in Hong Kong. We hope the scheme will include a variety of housing in terms of their types, age and geographical areas so as to consolidate experiences for sharing in the future," the spokesman said,
The EPD will operate a help-desk service to provide technical advice to applicants during planning and implementation and assist them in identifying suitable places for locating their on-site food waste treatment facilities. To consolidate experience from the scheme, the help-desk service will also provide detailed operational guidelines and a reporting framework to help applicants conduct performance evaluation.
The Government announced in January 2011 a comprehensive action plan that includes a number of initiatives to reduce waste at source, coupled with modern waste treatment facilities and extension of landfills, to tackle the imminent waste problem using a multi-pronged approach. Through the ECF funding scheme, the EPD is encouraging housing estates to take concrete action to reduce food waste at source.
More information on the application procedures is available on the ECF website ( www.ecf.gov.hk ). Enquiries can be made through the hotline ( telephone number: 2788 5598 ) or email ( hd-fwrs@hkpc.org ).
Ends/Monday, July 4, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:01
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