Thanks to the government's plastic bag tax, I've learned to take a backpack when shopping. Without question, I would also sort my rubbish into piles to make recycling easier were laws to that effect in place. This is what is expected from people in socially and environmentally responsible societies the world over. Authorities crow that Hong Kong is a globally plugged-in place and, while I would certainly wish this of the city I have chosen to call my home, the fact that I feel guilty when I take out the rubbish makes a lie of their claim.
Part of the problem is that I am lazy. The nearest three-colour recycling bins are a 15-minute walk away. That doesn't account for me being self-conscious about pushing through the often jam-packed pavements near my home with bags full of rubbish, that glass bottles and food scraps would not be accounted for or that my neighbours are unlikely to follow my lead. I live in private housing, not one of those public estates where recycling programmes are under way. If authorities truly cared about the environment, they would give me and all other citizens an edict to sort our rubbish or face a big, fat fine.
Why they don't mystifies me. Our three landfills are at near capacity; the inappropriately named Environmental Protection Department says they will be full before the middle of the decade if we continue to throw rubbish away at the present rate of 1.3kg each a day. A planned incinerator and organic waste treatment facilities won't fully solve the problem, and new landfills are out of the question given how little spare land remains.
The assumption can only be that our unelected government is scared that telling people to sort their rubbish will weaken its rule. Don't ask me how it can jump to this conclusion - making me care for my surroundings is not going to make me protest. Mind you, I am giving deep consideration to doing so on July 1, but that is about mismanagement and inaction on air pollution. No, I can't think of any good reason why I should not be forced to sort rubbish into piles of plastic containers, glass, cans, food scraps, and cardboard and paper, just as they do in the world's great cities.
Voluntary schemes don't work - that joke of a smoking ban in bars and restaurants proves this. Strictly enforced, legally binding rules are the only way to make us act. Landfills will be overflowing by the time the democratic elections Beijing has promised are held, so an alternative is needed. Reader Bob Beadman may have found part of the answer.
He told me about a new recycling facility on the Caribbean tourist island of Aruba. Run by the US company Bouldin & Lawson, it is a series of giant shredders, magnetic rollers and steam chambers that turn unsorted household rubbish into two piles: one of metal, the other of a patented wood-pulp-like material a few centimetres square called Fluff. The metal goes to recycling companies, while the Fluff can be used as topsoil, fertiliser or, when compacted, to make construction material and smaller products like pots. It can be used as fuel for power stations. Company vice-president Bill Martin filled me in on the details of the system, known as the WastAway Process. The Aruba facility is the firm's second; its first has been operating for seven years in Warren county, in the US state of Tennessee. Two others are in the planning stages, both in the US Virgin Islands. He said WastAway was ideal for islands, which usually had serious landfill problems.