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Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
QuestionĄG
The Government has implemented waste recycling from as early as 1998 and placed three-colour waste separation bins (3-colour bins) in various districts to separate and collect waste paper, plastics and metals. Earlier, some environmental groups have pointed out that the 3-colour bins are too few in number, have been placed in improper locations and are of bad design, which have undermined the effectiveness of waste recycling. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of sets of 3-colour bins placed throughout Hong Kong in each of the past five years;
(b) of the respective quantities of waste paper, plastics and metals collected through the 3-colour bins and the respective percentages of such quantities in the total quantities of these three types of waste, as well as the respective quantities of these three types of waste disposed of in landfills, in each of the past five years (set out according to Annex 1);
(c) of the channels through which the Government promotes the use of 3-colour bins to the public at present, and the details, as well as the related publicity expenditure in each of the past five years (set out according to Annex 2);
(d) whether the authorities have regularly reviewed the effectiveness of the 3-colour bins in waste recycling, including aspects such as their design, locations, quantities of waste collected, and whether the publicity channels and funding are adequate; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(e) whether the Government has plans to enhance the effectiveness of the 3-colour bins in waste recycling, so as to reduce and recycle waste; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Provision of three-colour waste separation bins (3-colour bins) is one of the measures to reduce waste and increase recovery quantity. This measure was introduced under the Waste Reduction Framework Plan launched by the Government in 1998. The objectives of the Plan are, inter alia, to extend the service life of landfills, minimise waste requiring disposal, help conserve the earth's non-renewable resources and increase the waste recycling rate.
Starting from 1998, relevant departments including the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) have provided waste separation bins at various public places in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the Environmental Campaign Committee has distributed 3-colour bins to housing estates for free under the promotion scheme of "Waste Recycling Campaign in Housing Estates". It has also given out waste separation bins to schools free of charge to achieve education and recovery purposes.
As a continuation of the above promotion scheme, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has launched the territory-wide Programme on Source Separation of Domestic Waste since 2005. The objective of the Programme is to provide additional waste separation facilities on each building floor and in other areas of housing estates to facilitate source separation of waste by residents and broaden the types of recyclables to be recovered. Housing estates participating in the Programme on Source Separation of Waste normally use waste separation bins as the major recovery facilities for collecting recyclable materials, including waste paper, metals, plastics, used clothes, used computers and electrical appliances. This further increases the recovery rate and reduce waste disposal.
In 2007, the EPD extended the Programme to commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings (including all non-residential buildings, such as educational institutions and non-profit-making organisations, i.e. tertiary institutions, medical institutions and community facilities) to encourage members of the public to practise source separation of waste at home or at workplace. Since its launch, over 1 940 housing estates (including all 181 public housing estates) have participated in the Programme, covering more than 80% of our population. Over 800 C&I buildings have participated in the Programme.
Replies to the various parts of the question are as follows:
(a) The Government has placed about 16 000 sets of waste separation bins throughout the city at locations such as pavements, public transport interchanges, refuse collection points, leisure and cultural facilities, country parks, schools, public/private housing estates, government quarters/offices and hospitals/clinics. In the past five years, the number of waste separation bins has increased by about 50% and the details are in Annex 3.
(b) Placing waste separation bins at public places frequently visited by members of the public plays a very important role in promoting environmental awareness and waste recovery habits in the community. Given that some recyclables in the bins are taken away by scavengers, the quantity of recyclables collected may not fully reflect the effectiveness of waste separation bins. Nonetheless, from the perspective of encouraging recycling, recyclables sold by the scavengers to recyclers will also be recycled. Please see Annex 4.
Recycling activities among the public are not limited to the use of waste separation bins. For example, some residents or cleaners will sell the recyclables directly to recyclers or carry out recovery through other means such as bartering. Data from the results of waste recovery surveys and export quantity of recyclables reflect more comprehensively the status of municipal solid waste recovery of Hong Kong. Quantity of recyclables recovered and that of waste disposed of in landfills over the past few years are detailed in Annex 5.
(c) Waste separation bins play a very important role in promoting environmental awareness and waste recovery habits among the public. All along, we have incorporated the information related to waste separation bins into the overall education and publicity efforts on waste reduction/reuse/recycling and waste separation at source. The EPD implements waste reduction and recovery programmes and initiatives targeting at members of the public via various channels. Such programmes and initiatives include commendation schemes, workshops, forums, exhibitions, media advertisements, broadcasting, displaying posters and banners at housing estates and public places as well as other promotion activities. Also, the EPD works with other government departments, district councils, property management companies, local residents' bodies, schools, green groups and community service organisations to set up waste recovery points throughout the city for building a wider community recovery network to promote reduction of waste and recovery of recyclable materials. Talks are held at schools by the EPD on a regular basis to instill among students the concept of environmental protection, including waste reduction and recycling.
Major expenditures of the EPD over the past few years in taking forward programmes on source separation of waste and encouraging community participation in waste reduction, separation, recovery and recycling are in Annex 6.
(d) The Government frequently reviews the various efforts in promoting waste recovery involving waste separation bins. The design of the 3-colour bins has undergone a number of changes since their introduction in 1998:
- For fire prevention, the bins have been made of fibre glass since 2001 so that it will be safer to place them in residential buildings;
- To broaden the types of recovered materials, the bins have adopted a design of wide openings to hold recyclables of bigger sizes since 2005;
- In line with the promotion of waste recovery, the bins have been made of recyclable materials since 2008 to enable their recovery when they reach the end of service life; and
- To facilitate the disposal of non-recyclable waste by the public, the Government has been gradually replacing old plastic waste separation bins with all-in-one bins for both waste disposal and material recovery since 2011. The new bins, made of stainless steel, are more durable and aesthetically better.
As for the number and location of waste separation bins, relevant departments including the FEHD, LCSD and AFCD will adjust the number and location of the bins in public places, taking into account the actual situation and need (factors such as street conditions, pedestrian circulation, quantity of recyclables recovered, bin-overfilling condition, and local demand) of various sites. Generally speaking, the Government aims at increasing the number of waste separation bins in a gradual manner. In particular, to encourage the practice of waste separation and recovery among rural residents, the Government increased substantially the number of rural waste separation bins from about 360 sets to more than 900 sets in 2010 with a view to facilitating rural residents to use waste separation bins placed nearby to enable their participation in waste separation and recovery. To tie in with the plan, the Government launched promotion in collaboration with Heung Yee Kuk New Territories and rural committees. Apart from displaying posters and arranging radio publicity, a green group was invited to visit the villages concerned to teach the residents there on how to separate waste and use the 3-colour bins.
Also, the EPD, FEHD and AFCD will conduct frequent reviews on the implementation of the initiatives on waste separation bins.
(e) In line with its "reduction first" waste management strategy, the Government promotes waste reduction and recovery at all fronts. Currently, waste reduction at source and waste separation before recovery yield better results. To enhance the effectiveness of source separation, the Government will continue to extend the coverage of waste separation bins by, inter alia, installing waste separation facilities at more public places as well as residential and C&I buildings, so as to further facilitate source separation by the public in terms of quantities and types of recyclables materials (such as glass bottles and waste electrical and electronic equipment). The "community green stations", to be set up on pilot basis, will support recycling efforts at community level, including reaching out to the community for the collection of recyclables, supporting the Community Recycling Network (CRN) and conducting other measures to promote the separation of waste at source.
Ends/Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:34
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