The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (January 3) called on members of the public and commercial and industrial (C&I) organisations to deliver natural Christmas trees (NCTs) to designated collection points for recycling. The collected NCTs will be processed into useful recycled materials, such as mulch and compost, for gardening purposes by the EPD's contractor to promote yard waste reduction.
 
     Members of the public are encouraged to deliver the NCTs, which should not be taller than 2 metres, to the collection points below from 8.30am to 7.30pm from January 5 to 7:
 

Collection Points	Enquiry Number
Sha Tin Community Green Station (10 On Ping Street, Shek Mun, New Territories)	2285 9433
Eastern Community Green Station (30 Oi Shun Road, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong)	2778 2330
Kwun Tong Community Green Station (27 Sheung Yee Road, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon)	2776 5700
Yuen Long Community Green Station (65 Tin Wah Road, Tin Shui Wai, New Territories)	2617 0117
Sham Shui Po Community Green Station (339 Tung Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon)	2522 4388
Kowloon Bay Waste Recycling Centre (11 Cheung Yip Street, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon)	2751 6155
EcoPark (133 Lung Mun Road, Tuen Mun, New Territories)	2496 7633
Baguio's plant nursery, Ting Kok Road, Tai Po, New Territories (Turn left before the Lo Tsz Tin Village bus stop when heading in the Tai Mei Tuk direction)	9706 6549

 
     C&I organisations, such as property management companies, should deliver the NCTs to Baguio's plant nursery in Ting Kok Road, Tai Po during the specified dates.
 
     Participants are advised to contact the respective organisations before delivering the NCTs to the collection points to ensure that the NCTs are suitable for recycling.
 
     An EPD spokesman reminded the public of the importance of "recycle right" and the need for clean recycling. All decorations should be removed before NCTs are delivered to the collection points. The recycling service does not handle artificial plastic Christmas trees and other festive decorations. Members of the public are encouraged to keep and store those for reuse. For other small potted plants (such as poinsettia), the public are advised to replant them to follow the "use less, waste less" principle.
 
     In order to promote recycling of yard waste left after Christmas and the Lunar New Year, since 2016, the EPD has followed the prevailing government procurement procedures to engage a qualified contractor with relevant experience and capability to carry out proper collection and treatment service for NCTs and peach blossom trees (PBTs) and subsequent processing into materials suitable for recycling or reuse. For the 2016 NCT and 2017 PBT recycling programme, the contractor has accomplished the major requirements of the contract, including properly recycling and converting the collected NCTs (22.7 tonnes) and PBTs (34.7 tonnes) into compost, bulking agents, wood pellets and other useful materials. The processed materials and end products have been donated for use by education, social and charity organisations, as well as agricultural organisations.
 
     The EPD welcomes other organisations and associations to provide recycling services for NCTs to help the public and the C&I sector to participate and enhance waste reduction for all.

Ends/Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Issued at HKT 18:57

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