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More than 42,000 public bins scattered across the city. Photo: David Wong

Huge number of rubbish bins in Hong Kong is contributing to waste crisis, says activist

With more rubbish containers than any other major city in the region, Hongkongers are disposing of more trash and choking landfills

Hong Kong is littered with a huge number of rubbish bins and an activist fears they are actually contributing to the city's waste crisis.

With more than 42,000 public bins scattered across the city, questions are being asked about the need for so many receptacles - far more than any other major city in the region.

This "culture of convenience" contributes little to the city's long-term goal of reducing waste and does nothing to make residents more aware of what they put in landfills, says independent activist Hahn Chu Hon-keung.

"During Occupy [Central], there were so many bins around, they could be used as road barricades," said Chu, a former member of the support group on waste charging at government advisory body the Council for Sustainable Development. "The question that needs to be asked is why we need so many rubbish bins? Does this culture of convenience really benefit Hong Kong?"

The question arises as the government hopes to slash the amount of rubbish generated by 40 per cent by 2020, partly through the planned introduction of waste charging by 2016.

According to data compiled by Chu, Hong Kong has 42,820 bins - six times more than Singapore, 10 times more than Seoul and 14 times more than Taipei.

That is roughly a bin for every 187 people. Seoul, by comparison, with a larger population of 10 million, provides one bin for every 2,270 people. And Taipei, with a population of 2.7 million, has one bin for every 910 people. Notoriously clean Singapore has one bin for every 770 people.

Despite having more bins, the city still generates more trash per person than most of its regional peers, with the average Hongkonger generating 1.36kg of waste a day, compared to Seoul's 0.95kg, Taipei's 1kg and Singapore, 0.87kg.

"In the 1970s, we had the Lap Sap Chung litterbug campaign which educated people to put trash in bins instead of on the streets," said Chu. "What happened was we simply shifted the problem off the streets and into the landfills."

Chu, who is also a former environmental affairs manager at green group Friends of the Earth and a journalist, believes the proliferation of bins runs counter to the need for behavioural change and encouraging people to reduce waste at source. "In some ways, the quantity of rubbish bins reflects the kind of lifestyle we have been living," he said.

He points to Taipei, which cut the number of public bins by 99 per cent after implementing a waste charge in 2000. Strong civic awareness and education means rubbish isn't just left on the pavement either. It has managed to slash waste per household by nearly 65 per cent since.

"Our civic duty [to reduce waste] should not stop at simply putting the trash in the bin," Chu said.

Lack of cooperation between government departments on reducing waste at source was another problem. The powers of the Environment Bureau, despite spearheading the city's waste reduction plan, stop once rubbish hits the bottom of a bin, said Chu. Three other agencies are tasked with collecting garbage.

"The problem is they don't address waste reduction. They are only in charge of collection," he said.

Chu said the design of the bins, with openings larger than those in other regional cities, adds to the problem as residents dispose of larger amounts.

"There must be some sort of government strategy to deal with this instead of just encouraging this culture of convenience."

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, which manages 21,200 bins, said it allocated bins in the appropriate spots, based on conditions such as pedestrian traffic and pavement width, for convenient use.

"We will review the current bin designs as well as the quantity in public places to complement the environment department's implementation of waste charging," a spokesman said.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which manages 19,000 bins, said the provision of bins was reviewed from time to time.

The Environment Bureau said rubbish bins were not in its purview.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Bins add to waste crisis, says activist
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