Paper recycling efforts were struggling yesterday as the Government continued considering rescue measures following last week's closure of Concordia Paper Ltd. Concordia, which processed about a quarter of the SAR's waste paper, has been placed in receivership, leaving the local industry in crisis, according to a green group. Thousands of tonnes of recyclable paper may now be dumped in a landfill as a result, green group Better Environment Hong Kong said yesterday. Also yesterday, schools reported piles of paper gathering uncollected, while another major voluntary scheme which collects between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes of paper a month is struggling to find another recycler. Nine yellow bins placed around Star Ferry terminals and throughout the urban area, sponsored by the Body Shop, collected about 2.5 tonnes of waste paper a week, the Body Shop's general manager, Marcus Tancock, said. He said all the paper had previously gone to Concordia Paper. Meanwhile, at Law Ting Pong Secondary School in Tai Po, a teacher co-ordinating the paper recycling programme said she was told waste could not be collected until Friday. 'We don't know what is happening. The agency that collects it is trying to find someone else - but quite a lot of paper is piling up,' she said. Concordia was the only local recycler which accepted newspaper. Some collectors had pulled out of their regular commitments, said an Environmental Protection Department spokesman. Rescue measures, including making some land available for stock-piling waste paper until another recycler could be found, were under consideration, the spokesman said. Describing the current situation as a crisis, Better Environment Hong Kong's Steve Choi Sau-yim said it was vital the Government improved its overall recycling strategy. 'Even if we stockpile this paper on vacant land, then what's next? The Government said most paper is recycled in Hong Kong because exports are going down,' he said.
