Since their introduction in mid-2000, the three different-coloured recycling bins prominently displayed in streets and public places have served to project for Hong Kong people a sense of pride in our city, now ranking with other advanced cities in environmental protection. Beyond that, however, their practical use is uncertain.
Waste separation and recycling face many obstacles. Hong Kong's small flats yield little space for the sorting and storage of domestic waste. The lack of space for putting recycling bins on each floor of multi-storey buildings hampers waste separation. Few people will take the trouble to dump their refuse at locations far from home.
Some people do not remove plastic straws, or fax and carbon paper (which are all non-recyclable) from their separated waste before putting it into the bins. In the US and Canada municipal authorities fine residents who put refuse into the wrong bins. In the absence of regulatory measures, it is a taxing task to make Hong Kong people carry out waste separation in earnest. There is evidence to suggest that sometimes the contents of recycling bins are put together and end up in the landfills. Our domestic waste recovery rate is therefore less than 10 per cent.
Further, Hong Kong's ailing recycling industry is crippled by a lack of market demand. The general public, long used to luxurious packaging and high-quality goods, have little preference for recycled products, which they consider inferior in quality. People do not know exactly what happens to the separated waste collected, what the end products are, and where they are being sold.
To make waste recycling work, more public information is urgently needed. The Government should assist in developing the recycling industry as a form of basic social service. Recycled products should be actively promoted to bring them closer to home, and to give people the incentive to use the recycling bins.
The fact that our landfills will reach capacity as early as 2010 should be made widely known. Hard-hitting messages are more effective than penalties and fee charging to get people to take part in waste recycling.