EPD's response to Ombudsman's direct investigation report

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The Office of the Ombudsman today (February 16) released a report on its direct investigation into the Government's regulation of the illegal occupation or obstruction of streets by goods and miscellaneous articles. The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) thanked the Office for its recognition of the department's work in reducing illegal dumping of waste at source by providing waste collection and recycling services. The EPD is committed to improving environmental hygiene through a multi-pronged approach. It will collaborate with other relevant departments and stakeholders, install more surveillance camera systems at fly-tipping black spots, and continuously review the measures and their effectiveness.

On the report's recommendation to further enhance the local recycling capacity for styrofoam boxes, the EPD said that styrofoam boxes were lightweight but bulky; even if a large volume was recovered and processed only a small amount of raw plastics would be produced. Coupled with the fact that waste styrofoam may be either contaminated or mixed with impurities, the recycling efficiency of styrofoam is comparatively low in general. Therefore, reusing and reducing waste at source are the priority approaches to handling them.

At the beginning of 2022, due to the epidemic situation, styrofoam boxes for supplying vegetables and fruits to Hong Kong could not be returned to the Mainland for reuse. As a result, a large number of styrofoam boxes were piled up in the community, causing street obstructions and environmental hygiene problems. Sending a large number of discarded styrofoam boxes to refuse transfer stations also seriously affected the normal operation of the stations. In response to this emergency situation, the EPD hired contractors to provide styrofoam box recycling services through the refuse transfer stations in early 2022. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department also sought assistance from local recyclers, non-government organisations and private enterprises to increase the recycling capacity of styrofoam boxes, with the overall recycling capacity increased from less than one tonne per day in the past to around 12 tonnes per day. About 2 500 tonnes of styrofoam boxes have been collected and recycled so far, and those styrofoam boxes temporarily stored in different places (such as wholesale food markets and public markets) due to the epidemic in early 2022 have been properly handled.

With the Mainland's resumption of normal clearance for travellers on January 8, 2023, the previous arrangement of returning to the Mainland the styrofoam boxes for supplying vegetables to Hong Kong has gradually resumed. The quantity of abandoned styrofoam boxes received by refuse transfer stations, public markets and wholesale food markets has also gradually decreased. Balancing cost-effectiveness and the long-term development of the industry, the EPD will support the development of local styrofoam recycling technology to enhance operational efficiency, co-ordinate with the trade and strengthen inter-departmental collaboration to prevent the accumulation of waste styrofoam boxes.

Ends/Thursday, February 16, 2023
Issued at HKT 16:15

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