Up to 160,000 tonnes of waste paper that could be sold and recycled may end up in landfills if the government does not find suitable sites for the industry, operators say.
The Kwun Tong public cargo working area, where 12 of the city's major waste paper processors operate, will be resumed by the government a year from now to redevelop the Kwun Tong promenade, forcing the operators to relocate.
Lau Yiu-shing, one of the operators and vice-chairman of the Recycled Materials and Re-production Business General Association, said the new sites offered - including the public cargo works area at Chai Wan and Tuen Mun - were unsuitable.
'We process waste paper from Kowloon. How can the trucks carry the paper all the way from Kowloon to Tuen Mun and Chai Wan? How much more cost and time will be lost and how much more emissions will be created?' Lau asked.
More than a million tonnes of used paper was collected for recycling last year, of which 650,000 tonnes was from Kowloon. As Hong Kong has no paper recycling industry of its own, the paper is shipped to the mainland.
'Whoever moves to Chai Wan and Tuen Mun will just be forced out of business as there's no way they can survive there,' Lau said.