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Following is a question by the Hon Kam Nai-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, at the Legislative Council meeting today (October 27):
Question:
According to the statistics of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), about 3.18 million tonnes of municipal solid waste were recovered in Hong Kong in 2009, and among them, less than 1% was recycled locally and the rest was exported to the Mainland and other countries for recycling. Of the recyclable materials recovered locally, glass materials account for around 3,000 tonnes. Yet, glassware and glass containers have so far not been included in the Recyclables Collection Services currently provided by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the average percentage of glassware and glass containers in the domestic waste collected each day at present;
(b) whether the Government had, in the past two years, considered including glassware and glass containers in the Recyclables Collection Services of FEHD; if it had, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that;
(c) whether it has considered extending the Glass Container Recycling Programme launched by EPD to cover all industries and districts in Hong Kong;
(d) of the total number of glass recovery and recycling contractors in Hong Kong at present and the main recycling methods adopted by them;
(e) given that the glass containers collected by some glass recovery and recycling contractors are crushed into glass sand to make works materials for producing eco-blocks for pavements, of the current number of pavements that are paved with recycled eco-blocks in Hong Kong, and among such blocks, the quantity of those which were produced locally; and
(f) whether it will consider providing assistance and incentives for the glass recovery and recycling industry, with a view to increasing the rate of local glass recovery and recycling, thereby reducing the quantity of glassware and glass containers sent to landfills?
Reply:
President,
(a) In 2009, on average about 9,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste were disposed of at landfills in Hong Kong daily. Among them, 255 tonnes (about 2.8%) were waste glass containers.
(b) The availability of sustainable recovery outlets is a key consideration in extending the Recyclables Collection Service Programme to cover waste glass containers. To develop local recycling outlets for waste glass, the Environment Protection Department (EPD) funded a research by a local university in 2004 to crush waste glass containers into particles to substitute natural river sand for the production of paving blocks. The success of the research provides an additional recovery outlet for local waste glass containers. Since 2004, there are two concrete paving blocks manufacturers making use of the recycled glass containers collected in Hong Kong. We will continue to expand actively recycling outlets for waste glass to promote local recovery of waste glass containers.
(c) All along the Government has encouraged the public to separate waste at source for recycling. To promote local recovery of waste glass containers, the Hong Kong Hotels Association, with the support of the EPD, launched the Glass Container Recycling Programme for the Hotel Sector in November 2008 to encourage the trade to reduce waste disposal and delivered the waste glass containers collected to local manufacturers for the production of concrete paving blocks. The EPD also encourages and supports non-profit-making organisations to organise activities and launch voluntary recovery programmes in local communities to collect waste glass containers for recycling.
Apart from the hotels that participate in the above Programme, some other hotels and large catering service providers have launched recovery programmes on glass containers individually. The EPD will seek to extend progressively the recovery of glass containers to more hotels and other sectors.
(d) We understand that there are a few recyclers in Hong Kong that are active in the recycling of waste glass and recycle waste glass by the following means:
* two producers will crush waste glass containers into particles to substitute natural river sand for the production of paving blocks; and
* another two recyclers will clean waste glass containers for resale and reuse as containers of non-beverage liquids.
(e) As regards the current quantity of paving blocks used in Hong Kong which are eco-paving blocks made from recycled waste glass containers and the quantity of such blocks produced locally, we do not have the relevant figures. The eco-paving blocks with recycled glass content produced locally have been provided to the market for a relatively short period of time, such kind of paving blocks has so far been used before in suitable public works projects under some Government departments (including the Housing Department, EPD and Highways Department (HyD)), as well as in the works projects by some tertiary institutions, to try out its performance; and
(f) In view of the satisfactory performance of the eco-paving blocks made from recycled waste glass containers in the trials so far, the Administration will promote the use of such kind of eco-paving blocks. To further promote the recovery of waste glass containers, the HyD has already stipulated in their public road maintenance contracts since this October that priority should be given to eco-paving blocks containing recycled glass content for paving concrete block pavements.
Ends/Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:13
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