Officials dispute dumping claims
Reliable figures on how much imported plastic waste ends up in local landfills prove hard to find as recyclers press for licensing system
Recyclers and the government remained divided yesterday over the amount of foreign plastic waste dumped in local landfills, with the Environmental Protection Department saying the industry's estimate of 300,000 tonnes a year was impossible.
David Wong Tak-wai, an assistant director of the department, said that much waste would require 200 trucks a day to take it to landfills. It would be impossible, he said, as the government monitored waste going to landfills closely and that number would mean the city generated very little plastic waste of its own.
We will see if the current formula for calculating the amount of recycled waste is still valid and how much waste has been declared as local even though its origin was overseas
Groups representing the recycling industry also wanted the government to establish a licensing system, so the operations of recycling companies could be better monitored and the city could have a better idea of how rubbish imported from overseas was processed.
Chan Sik-kwan, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Recycle, said some low-quality imported waste was mixed with non-recyclable material, and that 8 to 10 per cent of the 3 million tonnes of that waste processed in the city was going into landfills.
Environment minister Wong Kam-sing said the industry's estimate was only approximate.
He added that the overall amount of waste exported, including metal, paper and plastic, was more than that imported.
He was responding to claims that the amount of plastic waste exported was less that that imported, and that therefore some of it was going into local landfills.