EPD's response to media enquiries on high liquid content waste
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The total quantity of HLCW disposed of at landfills in 2025 was about 1 500 tonnes, equivalent to about 100 double-deck buses. The waste will become leachate and may affect landfill stability. The EPD is working with the industry to explore waste reduction at source by proper treatment and recycling, and stop disposing of HLCW at landfills.
HLCW includes liquid food (such as beverages, sauces and ice-cream), personal care products (such as shower gels and moisturising creams) and other liquids (such as paint and cleansing agents). If the industry needs to dispose of HLCW at landfills, they must apply to the EPD for a Disposal of Special Waste at Landfills Admission Ticket. In 2025, there were a total of 27 ticket holders who disposed of HLCW at landfills in the territory, all of whom were manufacturers, retail enterprises, and logistics companies.
The EPD contacted relevant admission ticket holders, local recyclers, and some manufacturers and retail enterprises earlier this year to discuss ways of gradually reducing the disposal of HLCW at landfills, with a view to significantly reducing the amount of HLCW ending up there. The EPD has proposed a number of feasible alternative solutions, including minimising the generation of expired items at source through enhanced inventory management, and considering donating properly packaged and usable items to social welfare organisations or charities. For items unsuitable for donation, they can install their own processing equipment or hand over the items to recyclers with relevant handling capacity for treatment.
At present, HLCW is usually disposed of in intact packaging and in large quantities. Since the packaging materials of such waste (such as paper boxes, aluminium cans and glass bottles) are recyclable, and the liquid contents can also be properly treated by appropriate treatment systems, such waste is favourable for recycling. In the past three months, a beverage manufacturer had handled about 300 000 bottles of discarded beverages through recyclers, with the packaging materials recycled. Additionally, a dairy producer plans to handle about 50 000 cartons of discarded milk monthly through recyclers. This demonstrates that the direction proposed by the Department has received positive responses and concrete action from parts of the industry.
The EPD has liaised with the local recycling industry to assist in enhancing its capacity to handle the waste concerned. The Recycling Fund is also assessing relevant applications to support recyclers in purchasing equipment to handle various kinds of HLCW. Meanwhile, the food waste treatment facilities under the EPD, namely Organic Resources Recovery Centres (O.PARKs), are capable of processing liquid food, helping to turn waste into energy and foster resource recycling; while the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre can process waste liquids containing chemicals. As for other waste liquids, after being properly treated and if in compliance with the requirements of the relevant licence for the discharge of wastewater, they can be discharged into the communal sewer and conveyed to sewage treatment facilities for further treatment.
The EPD spokesperson stated that the abovementioned measure under discussion is an administrative arrangement under the landfill admission ticket system, which does not involve any amendments to the relevant legislation or subsidiary legislation. It covers only admission ticket holders of manufacturers, retail enterprises and logistics companies, while municipal solid waste from households and commercial and industrial sources is not affected.
The EPD will continue to discuss the handling of HLCW with the industry before deciding on the full implementation details and final timetable. If the industry encounters technical difficulties while switching to alternative solutions, they can seek assistance from the EPD.
Ends/Friday, June 26, 2026
Issued at HKT 21:53
Issued at HKT 21:53
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