Recycling plan may add HK$1 on a bottle of beer
Wine and spirits could also be hit under government scheme to help deal with Hong Kong's annual 70,000 tonnes of glass waste
A HK$1 levy may be charged on bottles of beer, wine and spirits to help pay the recycling costs.
The scheme is being considered by environment officials and could be put up for public consultation as early as next month. It follows the 50 cent plastic bag levy introduced in 2009.
Recyclers welcomed the idea, which could help pay for recycling the 70,000 tonnes of waste glass generated in Hong Kong every year. However, the food and beverage trade said it would be unfair to single out glass, which accounted for only 3 per cent of total waste.
Bottled soft drinks or sauce bottles would escape the levy.
The money collected would subsidise local glass recyclers, who might be paid according to the volume of glass they treated.
Terence Wong Chee-ho, director of Laputa, one of two local factories making bricks with glass waste, welcomed the proposal. "It would help us to recover the transportation costs," said Wong, whose bricks, made in its Tuen Mun plant, are used mainly by the government.
But Michael Glover, chairman of the Hong Kong Food, Drink and Grocery Association, which represents major beer makers and wine importers and has been in talks with officials on the issue for more than two years, said any option considered should "treat people fairly".