We would like to respond to Dr Man Chi-sum's letter headlined 'Recycling opportunities waiting to be taken' in the South China Morning Post on September 6.
Dr Man rightly pointed out that recycling is not a panacea for our environmental problems. Indeed, the waste management principle we have been advocating is that we should always try to avoid waste in the first place, and then reduce that we cannot avoid, followed by reusing and recycling that we cannot reduce.
Whilst recycling is an important component of our waste reduction strategy, we should not encourage recycling for the sake of recycling. As experienced by some European countries in the past, carefully separated recyclable wastes may still end up being disposed of if there are no viable markets.
We agree with Dr Man that the implementation of landfill-charging will provide the necessary incentive to reduce and recycle waste.
The Government is fully aware of the problems faced by the local recycling trade and will continue to provide appropriate assistance to them. For example, in addressing their prime concern of high land cost, the Government will continue to identify suitable sites for leasing exclusively to the recycling trade under short-term tenancy at a concessionary rate.
Two sites at the former Kai Tak airport were let out earlier this year to the waste paper collectors and a metal recycler. Several potential sites in Kowloon and the New Territories have been identified and are being processed for tendering.
