Transcript of remarks by SEN
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     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, on the recyclables to be imported to the Mainland after officiating at the 15th Hong Kong Green School Award presentation ceremony today (September 29):

Secretary for the Environment: Today my colleagues attended a meeting in Beijing with the Environment Ministry (the Ministry of Environmental Protection) to report the situation in Hong Kong in relation to the recent incident about waste paper. Basically, there are two issues covered in the meeting. Firstly, it is about the so-called quota of importing waste paper to the Mainland. Basically, the Ministry told Hong Kong that there is substantial quota remaining in this year to accept qualified waste paper to the Mainland. Certainly the concerned business and companies would have their commercial considerations, but there are still rooms for importing Hong Kong waste paper to the Mainland within this year.

     The second part is about the tightened standards for importing specified recyclables to the Mainland starting next year. We have communicated the concerned policy with the Hong Kong local recyclers so that they understand the standards and if possible, if needed, the Hong Kong Government, including through the Recycling Fund, can support the Hong Kong recyclers to upgrade and to meet the national standards. Thank you.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Friday, September 29, 2017
Issued at HKT 18:35

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