The government's target for the recovery of municipal solid waste has been reached earlier than expected.
The overall recovery rate of such waste increased from 43 per cent in 2005, to 45 per cent last year, which is three years ahead of the target set for 2009, the Environmental Protection Department says in a paper submitted to the Legislative Council's panel on environmental affairs.
The paper also says the amount of municipal solid waste disposed of at landfills has dropped by 1 per cent, or 36,000 tonnes, against an economic growth of 6.8 per cent last year, the first year of implementation of the department's 'Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste' initiatives.
But it says: 'There is still a long way to go in achieving the policy framework's target of reducing the total [municipal solid waste] landfilled to less than 25 per cent.'
It also says the amount of municipal solid waste generated remains on an increasing trend, which is likely to be the result of robust growth in commercial, industrial and tourism-related activities last year.
The paper also reveals that the municipal solid waste recovered for local recycling dropped to 0.11 million tonnes.
