But economic incentives are needed to encourage more people to sort waste
Environment officials have enjoyed initial success in a household waste-separation scheme, with a significant rise in recyclable material being collected.
But they said an economic incentive was needed to encourage more people to sort their waste.
The scheme - aiming to cover 180 housing estates and more than a million people this year - encourages households to cut waste disposal by sorting recyclable materials and placing them in bins near their flats.
Launched by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) in January, the scheme has 60 participating housing estates and another 90 have said they will join.
Recyclables collected from 19 of the 60 estates have surged by an average of 47 per cent and led to a 3 per cent reduction of total waste disposal. And the monthly weight of recyclables has increased from 12.4 kilograms to 18.15kg per household.
