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LCQ16: Waste reduction and recycling programmes implemented in public housing estates
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     Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Lam and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (June 8):

Question:

     It is learnt that in response to the Government's implementation of various territory-wide waste reduction and resources circulation initiatives, different types of waste reduction and recycling facilities, such as reverse vending machines for recycling plastic containers, smart food waste recycling machines, three-colour recycling bins, and glass bottle collection bins, have been installed in the common areas of public housing estates (PHEs) and wet markets under the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA). Regarding the waste reduction and recycling programmes implemented in PHEs, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the number of waste reduction and recycling programmes implemented by the HA in PHEs in the past three years, and set out, by programme name, the following information on each programme: the target; the content (e.g. coverage); the total quantity of various types of waste recovered each year and the progress and effectiveness; as well as the future development; and

(2) whether, in the coming year, the HA will implement more waste reduction and recycling programmes as well as install additional recycling facilities in PHEs; if so, of the details (including the targets); if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     Having consulted the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), the consolidated reply to the questions raised by the Hon Andrew Lam is as follows:

     The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) has all along been complementing the EPD's effort in raising the public's environmental awareness and creating a better living environment in public rental housing (PRH) estates. In recent years, in order to reduce waste disposal and develop a waste recycling culture, the HA has actively encouraged PRH residents to separate domestic waste at source to facilitate recycling. The HA has also collaborated with the EPD to implement various publicity and education activities and trial projects in PRH estates so as to enhance PRH residents' awareness on waste reduction and recycling.

     In the past three years, the HA collaborated with the EPD to implement various waste reduction and recycling programmes in a number of PRH estates. The objectives, content, total amount of recyclables recovered, progress and future development of these programmes are listed below:

(i) continue to implement the Source Separation of Domestic Waste programme by placing three-colour recycling bins (including waste paper, plastic and aluminum cans) in PRH estates across the territory to facilitate and encourage PRH residents to separate waste at source and dispose of waste into designated recycling bins, and set up other types of recycling bins/boxes to recycle items such as glass bottles, rechargeable batteries, fluorescent lamps and tubes;

(ii) conducting Trial Project on Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Charging at Public Housing Estates in about 150 PRH domestic blocks in phases since late 2018. The first two phases of the trial projects covering a total of 53 PRH blocks have been concluded. The third phase, covering a total of 51 PRH blocks, commenced in January 2022 and is anticipated to be completed in November 2022;

(iii) launching a trial programme to collect food waste in 18 shopping centres and wet markets to collect source-separated food waste generated in the shopping centres and wet markets; 

(iv) carried out a four-month trial of using smart recycling bins to collect food waste at Lin Tsui Estate, Chai Wan, in December 2021;

(v) implementing collection and recycling services of plastic recyclable materials in 63 PRH estates located in three districts (i.e. Eastern, Kwun Tong and Sha Tin);

(vi) placing reverse vending machines (RVMs) under pilot scheme in three PRH estates to collect plastic beverage containers; and

(vii) promoted waste reduction and clean recycling in 40 PRH estates from December 2020 to March 2021. The publicity activities included display of promotional posters, banners and pull-up banners, conducting online competition and mini-games on the website.

     In addition, the HA also co-organised various publicity and promotional activities with green groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the launch of bartering, and collected mooncake boxes after the Mid-Autumn Festival and recovered citrus plants after the Chinese New Year. The total quantity of various recyclables collected in the past three years are at Annex.

     In future, the HA will continue to collaborate with the EPD to implement the following waste reduction and recycling initiatives in PRH estates under its management. The objectives and content of the programmes are as follows:

(i) the fourth phase of Trial Project on MSW Charging at Public Housing Estates covering about 50 PRH blocks will commence in end-2022 right after the completion of the third phase;

(ii) join the Pilot on Smart Recycling System by installing smart recycling bins in some ten PRH estates to collect recyclables such as plastic, waste paper, metals and glass bottles in 2022;

(iii) install smart recycling bins to collect domestic food waste on trial in three PRH estates in the fourth quarter of 2022 tentatively;

(iv) launch one-stop service for collection of recyclables in PRH estates successively. The EPD's operators (including the operators of GREEN@COMMUNITY) will collect recyclables with low commercial value such as waste plastics, glass containers, fluorescent lamps and tubes, rechargeable batteries, small electrical appliances and regulated electrical equipment, so that PRH residents can separate more recyclables and turn waste into resources more properly; and

(v) increase the number of RVMs to some ten PRH estates by mid-2022.

     In addition, the HA will launch a publicity campaign under the theme "Let's join hands to reduce waste in our estates" and implement various environmental protection activities in collaboration with green groups and NGOs.

 
Ends/Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Issued at HKT 16:33
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