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Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Wai-keung and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (October 28):
Question:
It has been reported that as the prices of raw plastics have dropped continuously due to the persistently low prices of crude oil, manufacturers of plastic products purchase less plastics produced from recycled waste plastics. In such a situation where the demand for waste plastics is decreasing and their recovery prices are dropping, the operation of the recycling industry of waste plastics has almost come to a halt in the recent six months. As a result, large quantities of waste plastics have been disposed of at landfills. The situation has not only increased the burden on the landfills, but at the same time has also led to wastage of resources that could have been recovered and recycled. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the quantities and rates of waste plastics recovered in Hong Kong in each of the past five years; the measures adopted by the authorities for increasing the recovery rates of waste plastics, so as to avoid the disposal of large quantities of plastic wastes at landfills;
(2) whether the authorities compiled statistics on the recovery prices of waste plastics and the export prices of recycled plastics in the past five years; if they have compiled such statistics, of the details;
(3) whether, in the past five years, the authorities monitored and studied the operation of the recycling industry of waste plastics in Hong Kong, including the recovery costs and the problems faced by the industry, etc.; if they did, of the details;
(4) as I have learnt that quite a number of recyclers have now stopped collecting waste plastics, and as a result, large quantities of waste plastics segregated are sent to landfills together with other garbage for disposal, whether the authorities have grasped the situation concerned; if they have, of the remedial measures; and
(5) given that in comparison with the recovery of scrap metals and waste paper, the costs for recovering waste plastics are higher but the profits are lower, recyclers are therefore less keen on engaging in the recycling business of waste plastics, whether the authorities will draw up a long-term plan for the development of the recycling industry of waste plastics (such as setting up a dedicated fund, implementing recycling schemes in collaboration with the business sector and setting targets for the quantities of recovered waste plastics)?
Reply:
President,
(1) The Government has been adopting the principle of reduce, reuse and recycle to tackle the waste management challenges. In 2013, the Government published the Hong Kong Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources 2013-2022 (the Blueprint), setting out comprehensive strategies to achieve the target of waste reduction by 40 per cent in 10 years' time. Public awareness of waste reduction and recovery has been gradually enhanced with the co-ordination and support of various policies and initiatives. According to the statistics compiled by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), the disposal quantities of local waste at landfills have remained stable over the past few years without causing extra burden to our landfills, nor has the actual effectiveness of our efforts in waste recovery been undermined.
The estimation of recovery quantities of waste plastics in Hong Kong is mainly based on the "domestic export" statistics of plastic recyclables, which are then combined with data on the quantities of local plastic recyclables recycled locally as collected by the EPD's survey conducted on the local recycling industry. In view of the abnormal significant fluctuations in the domestic export statistics of plastic recyclables in recent years, the EPD commissioned an independent consultant in late 2012 to conduct a detailed study on the generation, recovery and disposal of waste plastics in Hong Kong, and to examine whether the current methodology used for estimating waste recovery quantities and recovery rates is appropriate. The findings of the study confirmed that the estimation method which is mainly based on relevant domestic export statistics of recyclables is the most appropriate approach for Hong Kong. However, there was in general a serious misunderstanding among those practitioners who are engaged in recovering or handling waste plastics, or are involved in trading of related products, in their interpretation of "domestic export" of plastic recyclables under the Import and Export (Registration) Regulations. Therefore, they might have mixed up the plastic recyclables that should belong to the "re-export" category with those belonging to the "domestic export" category when they lodged the export declarations, thereby affecting the accuracy of the estimated quantity of plastic recyclables recovered in Hong Kong. To tackle the problem, the Census and Statistic Department and the Customs and Excise Department have enhanced the verification of domestic export declarations lodged by declarants for plastic recyclables since April 2014 on a sample basis. These enhanced checks require the declarants to provide supplementary information on the plastic recyclables declared, including whether they are locally recovered or imported, and details on the kind of processing they have undergone in Hong Kong. These checks ensure that the declarants clearly understand the definitions of "domestic export" and "re-export", declare the correct place of origin for plastic recyclables and use the proper Hong Kong Harmonised System codes in lodging trade declarations. The EPD has been referring to this supplementary information provided by declarants in estimating the quantity of plastic recyclables locally recovered.
Over the past five years, the recovery quantities, recovery rates and disposal quantities of plastics in Hong Kong are as set out in Annex I.
The recovery quantities of plastics in Hong Kong have been on the decrease in recent years. The main reasons include the continued weak demand for raw materials, including plastic recyclables, from the Mainland manufacturing sector; the Mainland authorities' strict control over the quality of plastic recyclables; and the drop in global crude oil prices since last year affecting the value of plastic recyclables. All these have caused fluctuations in local activities on recycling of plastics.
With the co-ordination of the Steering Committee to Promote the Sustainable Development of the Recycling Industry chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, the departments concerned are following up various policies and measures proactively to support the recycling industry with a view to increasing the overall waste recovery rates of Hong Kong, including the plastics recovery rates. The policies and measures concerned include:
(i) A working group on a "clean recycling" campaign was formed to promote source separation and cleaning of wastes at the community level. Meanwhile, property management companies, green groups, schools and other community organisations were encouraged to jointly organise promotional activities, with the focus on the promotion of clean recycling so as to increase the recovery quantities and the value of recyclables;
(ii) A Recycling Fund of $1 billion was set up to promote the recovery and recycling of waste by facilitating the upgrading of the operational capabilities and efficiency of the recycling industry for sustainable development, so that waste can be converted into useful resources and products. The Recycling Fund was officially launched on October 6, 2015 and open for application from the recycling industry and relevant organisations so as to assist them in upgrading and expanding local recycling operations in the form of a matching fund. We also set up small scale projects with less amount of subsidy and relatively simpler application procedures to facilitate applications from the small and medium enterprises;
(iii) On land support, the EPD has commissioned a consultancy study on the land requirements of the recycling industry, which will facilitate the Government to formulate land support measures for waste recovery and recycling activities, as well as reviewing the tendering arrangement in letting out short-term tenancy sites; and
(iv) Regarding manpower training and development of the industry, the EPD is stepping up the co-operation with the industry to increase the operational capability of local recyclers and uplift the image of the industry, raise the standard of the occupational safety and health, enhance the training for current practitioners and attract more newcomers to join the industry, thereby promoting the long-term development of the local recycling industry. In addition, the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) launched the "HKQAA Hong Kong Registration - Recycling Services" scheme in October 2015 to promote best practice among the recycling industry and encourage organisations to treat waste properly. A code of practice has been provided with a view to promoting environmental protection and occupational health and safety practices within the recycling industry.
The Government will continue to review the effectiveness of these measures and take follow-up actions and enhancement measures in a timely manner to ensure that the measures meet the needs of the local recycling industry and promote the green circular economy.
(2) The SAR Government has not compiled official statistics on recovery prices of plastic recyclables and export prices of recycled plastics. However, we have been maintaining close contact with the industry and keeping abreast of the operational and market situation of the plastics recycling industry through different channels. We observed that due to external factors, there was indeed a decreasing trend in recent years in the domestic export unit value* (i.e. value divided by quantity) of plastic recyclables, which is calculated based on information on the domestic export declarations for plastic recyclables. Over the past five years, the domestic export unit value of plastic recyclables were as set out in Annex II.
(3) The EPD has maintained close contact and communication with the local recycling industry and monitored closely the market situation of recyclables. A consultant was commissioned to carry out project-specific research for the recycling of local plastics. We understand that the local plastics recycling industry is facing various challenges, including the need for a stable supply of large quantity of clean and separated waste plastics so as to reduce the cost for transportation and treatment, the need to improve the technology for high value-added processes, the need to control the operating costs of labour and insurance etc, and the need for suitable sites for operation, etc. The EPD has started to study or implement various recommendations put forward by the report, which can be downloaded from:
www.legco.gov.hk/yr13-14/english/panels/ea/papers/ea0328cb1-417-1-e.pdf.
(4) We learnt from the industry that there was still a certain demand for clean and sorted waste plastics from the local market. Therefore, through publicity and public education, we will continue to urge the public to do a good job in waste separation at source and not to contaminate the recyclables and mix them with waste. This will help increase the value and recovery of the recyclables.
In addition, the EPD conducts the Waste Composition Survey every year to compile statistics on the disposal quantities of various types of municipal solid waste. The statistics showed that there was no significant increase in recent years in the disposal of waste plastics at landfills (please refer to the quantity of waste plastics disposed of at landfills over the past five years listed in Annex I). At present, the EPD keeps record of the waste vehicles and the waste they transported at the entrances of various landfills. If it is found or suspected that a large quantity of plastic recyclables are delivered to the landfill, the EPD will not only intercept and trace the source but also contact the owner and assist them to arrange for recycling so as to effectively prevent the disposal of large quantities of imported plastic recyclables in landfills. The EPD will also assist the waste plastics producers such as the property management companies of residential estates, commercial and industrial buildings as well as the recyclers in finding suitable recyclers for the recoverable waste plastics so as to avoid the disposal of large quantities of recoverable waste plastics.
The EPD has stepped up inspection recently and visited various community collection points and waste plastics recycling sites to understand their situations and learnt that the collection, recycling and treatment of waste plastics in the downstream are generally in normal operation. As far as we understand, in response to the situation concerned, some recyclers have adjusted the recycling processes, made flexible arrangement regarding the storage volume and looked for other outlets.
(5) Although different types of recyclables will face different market situations, all of them are affected by changes in market demand and fluctuations in their prices. At present, the quantities and values of recovery of local waste plastics are indeed under the pressure of external factors such as decreasing oil prices and stringent import/export control measures of relevant markets. We will continue to maintain close contact and communication with the local recycling industry and monitor closely the market situation of the recyclables so as to review the relevant policies and measures in supporting the local recycling industry in a timely manner with a view to assisting the industry in adapting to the changes in the external environment. And our response to (1) regarding the policies to support the sustainable development of recycling industry is also applicable to the overall industry.
*Note: Unit value is not price. It may change due to non-price factors. For example, changes in proportions and qualities of various types of plastic resins contained in the whole batch of plastic recyclables. However, in general, the trend of unit value can be taken as roughly reflecting the price trend.
Ends/Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:35
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