Future grim for half of Hong Kong recyclers with new China waste import rules looming, study finds
University researchers visited more than 200 firms and found industry also faces a manpower shortage, long working hours and a risky occupational environment
Half of the recyclers in Hong Kong – especially those in the plastics business – are at risk of closure with mainland China implementing more stringent requirements for importing waste next year, a university study has found.
The future of plastic recycling is particularly grim because none of the local plants visited by researchers contain the facilities needed to meet the new requirements.
Baptist University researchers, who visited 205 recycling companies, said the industry also faced a manpower shortage, long working hours and a risky occupational environment.
Shift in mainland policy could spell disaster for Hong Kong recycling
“The recycling business is helping Hong Kong to minimise its disposal of waste, which is filling up dump sites,” said university biology professor Jonathan Wong Woon-chung.
“But many companies are struggling very hard to make a profit, especially the small ones.”
About 300 local recycling firms will from January 1 face tighter mainland waste import rules – under which it will stop importing 24 types including waste plastic, unsorted scrap paper, textiles and slag from steelmaking – as part of a campaign against “foreign garbage” that it said was harming the environment and public health.
The Baptist University study found that 70 per cent of the 205 recycling plants visited were small businesses with fewer than five workers. Half of the companies reported that they were losing money even before the new regulations.